Negavese Chronicles 1: Nightfall in the Negaverse
by ahilty
Summary: A determined rat.  A crazed toymaker.  A friendly lab assistant.  A simple salesman.  In the Negaverse they are the Friendly Four.  How would they come to fight the most evil duck in two universes?  This is their beginning.
1. Chapter 1

Prologue

_The Negaverse. Three years before Darkwing…_

"It's no use, Negaduck has won…"

The speaker's two companions stared at him with almost identical bleak looks. It was darkness of the hidden underground hideout, which, due to its owner's eccentricities, was littered with both lethal and non-lethal toys. The darkness, however, was not prevalent enough to hide the miserable expressions of the three who had fled there. Even though one of the rather downcast heroes in question was wearing a rather silly jester's hat, and the other was a liquefied dog, the speaker could still tell that his words had an effect on the two.

Megavolt sighed and walked away from the two of them. Okay, it was more of a limp, due to the fact that he had not only had his leg had been gashed from the business end of Negaduck's beloved chainsaw, but the fact that Liquidator, the idiot, had collided with him, shorting him out and draining his energy. Dragging himself over to a huge toy block, Megavolt poked at it from a safe distance with his finger, hoping that Quackerjack hadn't done anything strange to it. The weird duck's hideout made Megavolt edgy, if only because it was hard to tell which toy was made to entertain children and which was meant to explode in your face. Fortunately it seemed the block was harmless, if overly large, and Megavolt gratefully sat on it.

He shook his head. He thought they could have beaten that horrible Negaduck by working together, but it had all turned out wrong! He was injured and shorted out, and forced to flee to the domain of an insane, if friendly, toymaker. There had been no choice. His own lighthouse was too far away, and the Liquidator had no secret hideout, he just merged with the nearest available water source. As for the fourth member, Bushroot...

But Megavolt didn't want to think about that.

And speaking of said toymaker, Quackerjack actually had gotten off worse than Megavolt. Megavolt could tell from the way Quackerjack was holding his arm that it was broken; to say nothing of the smell of singed feathers. That too had be in part Liquidator's fault, seeing how the electricity from Megavolt's shorting out had hit Quackerjack. The fact that Liquidator had saved the two of them from death was the only reason Megavolt was not angrier at him.

If only they had been able to help Bushroot…

Megavolt winched as his treacherous mind started to dwell on the fourth member of their supposed team. Bushroot was now the latest in a long line of people that had died at Negaduck's hand, including…wait, who were they again? Megavolt hated his poor memory. He reached into his pocket and brought out a small black covered diary, the latest in a long line of them. He loved his little diaries, the only things that kept his bad memory from being an even bigger hindrance. If he had been born a bit more scatterbrained or a bit less organized he might not have even thought of it. He actually owned two different types, the black covered ones and the white covers. The whites were normal diaries, but the black ones were special.

Megavolt flicked the diary open to the first few pages, the pages he used to keep the most important information. This information was always copied in every diary, so that no matter which one he read Megavolt would always remember.

_Negaduck's Victims_

It was a simple, but telling title. A list of the people that Negaduck had killed. Every time there was a newscast, or a suspicious obituary, or anything else that Megavolt could confirm as one of Negaduck's crimes the rat would pull out the death diary and scribble the name, age, and what that monster had done to them.

Megavolt sighed. Though he kept a record it was rare that Megavolt had witnessed Negaduck in action. He hated it. Megavolt pulled out a pencil and scribbled: _Reginald Bushroot._ He paused. How old had Bushroot been? Megavolt didn't know. He shrugged and moved on_. Killed by chainsaw in the West St. Canard Bank while trying to hold back Negaduck from killing us. Sliced to small bits._ Megavolt's hands were shaking as he wrote the last few lines.

Something yellow wiggled in Megavolt's peripheral vision. He looked up and saw that Quackerjack and wandered over and was shaking that banana puppet of his in Megavolt's face. The sight of the odd thing wiped a good portion of what he had been doing from Megavolt's mind.

"What's going on, John?" Quackerjack said using the odd high voice he used to make Mr. Banana Brain "talk". Megavolt wondered if he did that to be funny, or if the duck actually thought the doll was alive. It was one of the many creepy things that duck did, and Megavolt didn't like it. He thought that Quackerjack was pretty unstable, and that worried him a lot. Okay, so Megavolt himself wasn't exactly the sanity poster child, but that didn't change the fact that Quackerjack was just plain scary, especially for a guy who claimed to love children and whose purported goal was to make people happy.

Megavolt gaped at the doll, not sure what to do or say. In that moment of inattention Quackerjack snatched the diary, somehow using his injured arm, out of Megavolt's hand. The strange duck scanned the page and instantly the goofy bucktoothed grin vanished, replaced by something much more sober and downright haunted. Megavolt, who had never seen Quackerjack express anything other than mad cheeriness and insane rage, found himself more upset by this look then any of the other ones. It was downright horrible to see. Megavolt watched as Quackerjack flipped through the diary, as if looking for something. He apparently found what he wanted near the middle of the pages.

"Forty two." Quackerjack gave the diary back to Megavolt, who was now totally baffled.

"What?" He asked.

Quackerjack shook his head, the little bells on his jester hat jingling in an almost sad manner, as if they were picking up his mood "William Quacker wasn't forty when he died. He was forty two."

Megavolt looked down at the page. Right there at the top was: _William Quacker Sr. Forty. 'Heart attack' in Quackerjack mansion. Further investigation confirmed poisoning. Covered up by S.H.U.S.H_. A spark of realization entered Megavolt's mind. He knew that Quackerjack, their Quackerjack, had taken on his alias after Quackerjack Toys had failed one and half years ago with the explosion of the Children's Toy Museum. This museum's grand opening had been an explosive disaster. He knew that Whiffle Boy Industries, the video game company affiliated with Quackerjack Toys, had also failed at this time. Megavolt knew that, shortly after Negaduck's attacks on the companies, their employees, their owners, and their property, their Quackerjack, the duck that used toy themed weaponry to attempt to fight crime, had appeared. Megavolt had assumed that Quackerjack had been an employee, or at the very least a loyal fan, of the toy company. Now, with the strange, unfamiliar expression on the mad duck's face, Megavolt wondered.

"We've all lost someone to him, haven't we?" Megavolt said sadly, looking back down at his book.

Liquidator, who was looking down at the floor, simply nodded. The shame of what had happened, what his ineptitude had caused, was hurting him more than any physical wound that Negaduck might have inflicted. Quackerjack, on the other hand, hadn't apparently heard Megavolt, as he was now quietly talking to that banana doll of his, completely lost to the world.

Megavolt's eyes went back to his diary. He opened it, to the front, at the names that were, if not burning in his failing mind, were burning his heart.

After all, Megavolt had been born the same night that Negaduck had been, and was there for the first in a long line of terrible tragedies.


	2. Megavolt

Megavolt

"Better run, Sparky! You're never gonna make it!"

Elmo Sputterspark glanced backwards as over one hundred pounds of huge anthropomorphic pig bore down on him. Hamm String's arms were raised in a menacing pose, and the bigger boy was scowling fiercely. He looked like he was going to kill the small teenage rat.

Either that or he was constipated.

With that thought Elmo laughed, so much that it seemed he couldn't stop. He was so distracted that he failed to notice the rock buried in the Phys Ed field, and he stumbled and fell flat on his nose.

"Oh come on man!" Hamm screeched to a halt. "You have to do better than that if you really wanna outrun Monster Mallard!" Hamm gently helped his friend to his feet. "I saw him with that switchblade the other day, and I think he knows how to use it!"

Elmo brushed himself off "I suppose I still can't convince you to pound him for me?"

Hamm shook his head "No way man, no pounding. You know I don't pound people, even dicks like Mallard."

Elmo glowered at his friend. "Even if the person being pounded is a dangerous lunatic?"

"Even then Sparky. Violence isn't the answer. If you solved all your problems like that, you'd be no better than Mallard."

Elmo snorted "I think that in Mallard's case everyone should make an exception."

"Elmo..." Hamm shook his head. He only used Elmo's real name when he was disappointed or angry with his friend.

"Hamm, I think that he already is killing things. I mean other then the flies he swats. I could have sworn I heard a cat screaming last night!"

"Elmo, you have no proof. How can you be sure? More than that, why do you care? I know that he's your neighbor…"

"Look at this Hamm!" Elmo rushed over to the backpack he had left near the stands at the start of his and Hamm's little training session. He pulled out a book "How to Tell if Your Introverted, Angry, Unsociable Neighbor is Secretly a Serial Killer; for Dummies." Elmo flipped through the book, muttering to himself. When he found the page he wanted he jumped up and pointed it out to Hamm "Look look! One of the major signs of severe psychotic tendencies in the earliest stage is the slaughter of small helpless animals. Particularly cute fuzzy wuzzy bunnies."

Hamm read the page slowly. He was not as fast thinking as his friend, but by no means stupid. He was a jock yes, but not a dumb one, or a cruel one. He had been friends with Elmo for a long time, and though the two had varying interests, they somehow clicked together. Elmo was, to put it simply, a geek. He had a wild imagination, particularly when it came to things like superheroes and fantasy books. Elmo also had a love of science and invention. Hamm, on the other hand, was steady, calm, and practical. He was more a physical being, as opposed to Elmo as a mental one. Hamm preferred to be working out or playing sports to reading and learning, but if needed he could perform these tasks well enough to get by, just as he believed that Elmo was capable of great feats, if he would just slow down a bit.

"Sparky, there's a big problem with this." Hamm said after a few moments.

"What? What could possibly be wrong!"

Hamm chuckled and gently tapped Elmo's head with the book "You're not a dummy. Unbalanced mad scientist, yes. Dummy, no."

Elmo snatched his book back "Ha! Chowder head! One day I will rule the world with science!"

"I thought you wanted to be a superhero?" Hamm said with a grin.

"I can do both!"

"I'm sure." Hamm rolled his eyes. "Come on, oh great mad scientist hero. Its lunch time and I'm starving. Trying to teach you to run is really annoying." Hamm put a hand on Elmo's shoulder and turned him towards the school. Elmo grinned up at his friend.

"Hey, when I do become a superhero, wanna be my sidekick?"

Hamm laughed "Yeah, Sparky the Strange and Horrible Hamm. That's a superhero duo!"

"I'm not calling myself that. It doesn't have enough ummph, you know? It doesn't strike fear into the hearts of the common crook!"

"Oh? Then what do you want to be called?" Hamm asked as he opened the door to the cafeteria.

"I don't know. I still have to think about it."

"You knobs!" An angry voice bellowed. Hamm ducked as a tray, bent in half at the middle, flew through the air and clattered into the wall behind him, leaving a huge dent. Elmo squeaked and jumped in fright. He turned his head and looked into the cafeteria.

The duck that stood in the middle of the cafeteria, fuming and furious, wasn't the biggest or toughest looking of ducks, though that was not from lack of trying. Drake Mallard was small and almost scrawny, and the fact the he wore the most intimidating outfit he could find was obviously supposed to make up for this. He wore a black leather jacket with huge metal studded shoulder pads. Underneath the jacket was a blood red shirt. To add to his less then impressive height the duck had styled the feathers on his head in a spiky Mohawk and dyed these feathers yellow. He had a pair of huge combat boots, with lifts at the bottom to add to his height, though if another student ever pointed this out to him Mallard would always pummel that person.

Mallard always held himself with a great deal of aggression and tension. He always walked through the halls with the manner of someone eternally pissed about something. It was pretty common to see him with his fists and teeth clenched, and in fact he was doing this right now. He was glaring at the populace of the cafeteria, most of whom had taken refuge underneath tables, and the rest were edging towards the nearest exit. The fact was that he was so violent and aggressive that he intimidated everyone in the school, including some teachers.

Mallard roared and picked up a chair, throwing it at the rest of the students in the cafeteria. The students scattered, a few of the more excitable amongst them shrieking in terror.

"Mr. Mallard! Stop this at once!" To everyone's relief, the huge gym teacher, a man named Coach King, stalked over. He was a rather big Doberman, who was usually kind and encouraging towards his students. Now, however, his small eyes were narrowed in dislike and even a bit of disgust, as he stalked towards Mallard.

Mallard turned and glared at the coach, his hand twitching towards his pocket. Perhaps it was Elmo's imagination, but he could have sworn he could see the outline of a switchblade there.

Mallard wouldn't attack a teacher, would he?

If Mallard did have his weapon in that pocket, he didn't pull it out; instead he stalked towards the coach, his eyes burning in anger. "I keep telling these knobs to stop messing with me! Look at this!" Mallard drew back his fist and threw something at the coach. The remains of a Quackerjack brand firecracker, a White Dog, bounced off Coach King's chest. The Coach picked it up and stared at it, then looked back at Mallard.

"They put that in my food. I don't know which of these LOSERS!" Mallard swept an arm towards the huddled student masses "Buried that in my potatoes, but when I find out who did it…" The enraged duck trailed off. No one had any doubt what he meant.

"I don't care! You need to learn to control yourself, Drake Mallard!" King grabbed Mallard's arm, attempting to settle the enraged teen down.

Instead, this seemed to inflame Mallard. He snarled and punched at King, aiming for his face. King, who was pretty decent at martial arts and general fighting, ducked and grabbed Mallard's other hand.

"That's it, boy! You're suspended! You can forget about the prom as well! In fact, by the time I am done with you you'll be repeating a grade!" King dragged Mallard towards the door that Hamm and Elmo were currently watching the scene from.

Hamm and Elmo moved to the side, and for a moment Mallard's eyes meet Elmo's, and Elmo shrank from the rage and anger he saw there. Then Mallard's eyes fell to the book clutched in Elmo's hands. His eyes widened as he saw the title, but by then King had yanked him out of the cafeteria and down the hall.

Elmo was trembling as he watched King take Mallard away. He knew. Mallard knew that he knew. He was so dead. Even deader than he had been before.

"Hey, Sparky? You okay?" Hamm asked in a concerned tone.

"He saw my book! I'm a dead rat!"

Hamm shook his head. "Come on, you heard King! Mallard is suspended! He won't be bothering us for the rest of the year!" Hamm grinned as he led his friend over to the nearest table, a table that just happened to have Hamm's girlfriend, a kind girl named Preena Lott. Elmo, who was too busy being horrified, didn't really notice. Not that he would have minded anyway. He liked Preena as she was a good friend. She was a member of the Science Club that he ran, and while she didn't have the mad genius that Elmo had, she was very intelligent.

Preena, who had only heard the "dead rat" part of the conversation, frowned at him "Elmo, you don't really think that Mallard remembers the pencil incident?"

"Considering the fact that he keeps following me around and watching me? Yes, yes I do!"

"Gee, you are paranoid. And what's this?" Preena studied the book clutched in Elmo's arms "How to tell if…oh Elmo!" Preena shook her head. "I admit that Mallard is a slimeball, but I doubt he's psycho! They wouldn't let him in school if he was!"

"If he were smart enough he could!" Elmo said. "It says that the best killers are the ones that blend in!"

"But Mallard doesn't blend in; he sticks out like a sore thumb!" Hamm said. "He's just acting out. And yeah, he might be trying to scare you, but that's because you're just so jumpy!"

"I never should have stood up to him…" Elmo sighed.

A few weeks ago, during study hall, Mallard had been trying to extort spare pencils from the students. When their teacher had left him in charge (on the advice from the counselor that perhaps giving Mallard more reasonability and trust would get him to open up), he had collected all the pencils and charged everyone five dollars a pencil, for ten minute increments. If they didn't pay, he'd smash their fingers.

This had gone on for about twenty minutes before Elmo, inspired by his own superhero comics, which had taught him to stand up to villains, did something about it. Part of his new experiment on static electricity had given him an idea. He took a balloon that for some reason had been left in his desk and blew it up. He had then dug a bit of the fuzzy rug he was using for his static experiment out of his bag and rubbed the balloon. After he was sure the thing was charged he lobbed it at Mallard like a bomb, giving him a mild shock.

Unfortunately, Mallard had not been hurt, or even singed. He had lunged for Elmo, attempting to throttle him.

At that point Hamm, who had also had enough of this, stood up and caught Mallard by the collar as he raced by.

"If you keep doing things like this, Mallard, I'm going to tweak your beak." Hamm said calmly. Beak tweaking was about as violent as Hamm ever got.

"Tweak his beak, Hamm!" Preena had cheered, as did a few others. Hamm, submitting to peer pressure, gave Mallard's beak a light tweak. Mallard had been enraged, but right then the bell rang, and the ensuing student stampede prevented Mallard from doing anything about Hamm humiliating him.

However, as Elmo was darting by, Mallard grabbed his arm and glowered at him "You're finished, Rat-boy. Just you wait." Mallard pulled something out of his pocked, which turned out to be a switchblade. Elmo, who had grown up in a nice side of town, devoid of such behavior, had been horrified, and fled.

Now Mallard wouldn't leave Elmo alone. Every time Elmo turned around there was Mallard, staring at him with an evil expression, sometimes holding that switchblade. That was why he had asked Hamm to help him build his speed. If he was going to have to flee from Mallard he wanted to be prepared. These events were also why Elmo was convinced that his neighbor was a killer.

Preena, desperate to change the subject, thought of the one thing that would jolt Elmo out of this funk of his. "Elmo, what's with the project? How's it coming?"

Elmo shook his head "I haven't even thought about it! I'm too scared to go to the lab!"

Hamm frowned "This isn't right. You can't live in fear of that idiot! I mean," Hamm smiled "You are gonna be a hero, right? You can't back down from a punk like Mallard!"

Elmo buried his face in his arms "It's no use! I'm scared to death of him! I…I'm not much of a hero. I'm a loser!"

Hamm shook his head "Naw, you just need your sidekick! Tell you what, Sparky. I'll hang around in the parking lot after school. If Mallard comes wandering about while you are working on your project, I'll stop him."

Elmo smiled at his friend. "Well…if I can just finish tonight…it'll probably prove my theory! But are you sure about this, Hamm?"

"Hey, tomorrow's Saturday! And the prom is not till nine! We can stay as long as you like!"

Elmo smiled his mood brightening considerably. "Alright then! Let's do it!" He pulled out his lunch, some sort of yellow-green mess that his mom had made, and bit into it. He sighed "I keep telling her. If there's one thing I hate more than slop it's cold slop. Wish I had a microwave…"

* * *

><p>As King pushed him through the halls, Drake Mallard's mind was filled with the thoughts of what he had seen in that loser rat's dirty paws. Had that creep been sneaking around his house, or had he just heard the cries of the animals coming from his basement? He probably should have done that out in the woods somewhere…<p>

Drake didn't torture animals, although he did kill them. Anything small and fuzzy and cute was something he didn't like, and he wanted to see them dead. So, any time an adorable stray kitten or puppy turned up on his path, he would immediately snatch it up and kill it. There was something about their sweet fuzzy faces and wide, adorable eyes that made Drake Mallard shake in pure rage. It had been that way all his life, but until a few months ago he hadn't done anything about it. He had always just tried to ignore the cute things. Then, a few months ago, he had run over a bunny with his motorcycle.

He had gone back to see if the thing had survived, out of pure curiosity. Watching the thing struggle in its last moments had given young Drake a strange feeling. A good feeling. It felt like power. He had been the cause of another living thing's fate, and it felt good to have that kind of power. That night he had found a little kitten and taken it to his basement. He killed it quickly and almost mercifully, reviling in the feelings of power it gave him.

Drake thought that no one had seen that, or knew about the other killings. Now it seemed that nosy rat of a neighbor had gotten wind of it. He had always hated Elmo. Hated his whiny little voice and his goody two shoes attitude, the little naive punk! Now Rat-boy could ruin everything!

Unless he met with an accident.

* * *

><p>"So, what is it supposed to do, anyway?" Hamm asked.<p>

"See the light bulb?" Elmo pointed at said bulb. "I'm gonna power that thing using only static electricity!"

"Umm, doesn't that thing look a little…dangerous?" Hamm studied the fur covered treadmill. "Do you want me to do it for you? I can probably get up more power for you!"

Elmo considered this, then shook his head "Naw. I still need to build up my speed! Two birds with one stone! Or ducks in this case."

Hamm shrugged "Suit yourself." He leaned back on a handy chair and watched as Elmo got on the treadmill.

Despite the initial chuckles brought on by watching papers swirl around his friend's head, after ten minutes Hamm began to become bored. Elmo noticed the look on his face and cocked his head.

"You…*pant*. Wanna go sit in your car or something? Listen to the radio? You can keep watch for Mallard just *pant* as easily from there."

Hamm nodded "Yeah, that's a good idea." He said. He got up gratefully and left the science lab that Elmo had been using for his project. It was only a short walk down the hall to the parking lot, where Hamm's car was parked. Elmo didn't have his car with him, as someone had slashed his tires this morning. Hamm had no doubt who it was that had done that.

Hamm slide into the driver's seat and turned on the radio, which was already on one of his favorite rock stations. Hamm listened for a while, but he still kept an eye on the school. However, after a few more minutes Hamm begin to doze off, and was soon asleep.

About five minutes later, Drake Mallard poked his head out of the bushes beside the stairs. He had not gone home after the principle had kicked him out. Instead, he had snuck back and hid, waiting for Elmo to appear so he could jump him. Though they were neighbors he didn't want to wait until the rat got home to take care of him. That would be suspicious. Plus, the father was supposidly some sort of war hero. World War One or Two or whatever. Mallard didn't know, but he had seen the elder rat chase off a gang who had tried to tp their house on Halloween. He might have been a rat, but Mr. Sputterspark was mean, at least Mallard thought he was mean. However, even after school had been out for almost thirty minutes, the rat didn't show, and his little porky friend was sleeping in the car!

Mallard knew that the runt had a stupid project or something in that school. He grinned. Luck was with him. Despite the fact that Elmo had brought a friend, Mallard was still gonna get him, and get him good.

Mallard silently slipped into the school. He walked quietly down the hall to where he could hear the sounds of some sort of machine running. He crept up to the science lab door and grinned. There was his victim! Doing some sort of bizarre experiment with a treadmill.

Mallard was inspired.

Mallard slipped into the room. Elmo, engrossed in watching his light bulb finally start to light up, didn't notice Mallard come in. Nor did he notice Mallard take some tape from a nearby desk.

"Surprise, knob!" Mallard bellowed as he lunged with the tape, quickly wrapping it around Elmo's hands, binding them tightly to the handles of the treadmill.

"Ah! What are you doing?" Elmo screamed.

"Making sure that you learn a little lesson, Rat. Don't. Mess. With. Mallard!" With that he turned up the speed on the treadmill, laughing as Elmo scurried to keep up. "Take that. I wonder how long you can keep that up." Mallard laughed as he left the room. He rushed out the front door and turned a sharp left around the building. He escaped to the other side of the street and ducked down an alley. Sure that no one had seen him enter or leave, he casually walked down the alley, wandering back to his home.

He hoped that rat broke a leg! Or an arm!

Or his neck.

* * *

><p>Elmo ran, for how long he didn't know. He just knew that he could not stop. Could not slow down. If he did the treadmill would fling him backwards. He didn't know what would happen to him if that occurred. He couldn't even scream for Hamm, or any other kind of help. He was to out of breath.<p>

Hamm, what had happened to Hamm? Was he okay? What had Mallard done to him!

All of a sudden his light bulb flickered, and then exploded. The treadmill sparked and came to a sudden halt, throwing Elmo backwards and into a nearby wall. For a few seconds he was very disoriented and shaken, not just from the impact, but from the fact that Mallard had been here, had somehow gotten past his best friend! He also felt oddly tingly, like there were little invisible feet running up and down his body. It was odd.

"Well…that was unpleasant…but very interesting from a scientific prospective." He said, as he rubbed his head "Oh no! Hamm!" Sure that Mallard had done something to Hamm before turning his attention to himself, Elmo rushed to the door and grabbed the door handle.

It was like being hit by a bullet, a bullet that didn't just go through you, but ran through the body and out the other end. Every cell in Elmo's body was charged. So strong was this charge that he was lifted from the ground. He screamed as he was jolted, sure that he was dead. Surly someone couldn't be it with that much electricity and live?

It was over in a few seconds. Elmo was blown back again, but to his surprised he was still alive. And now, he was furious.

"Ah! Stupid doorknob!" Instinctively he pointed at the door, and to his shock a bolt of blue lightning shot out of his hand and reduced the door to dust.

"What?" He stared at his fingers. As if to confirm what had happened, a small spark was twisting in between his fingers. It seemed to skip from one finger to the other in an almost playful manner.

"I can't believe it." Elmo said. He pointed at a nearby stool and the electricity shot out of his fingers again, reducing it to dust. "I have superpowers! Just like in the comic books! Oh yes!" Elmo jumped up, pumping his arm into the air. Unfortunately this caused his electric powers to flow again, through his fist, and took out a good chuck of the ceiling.

"Oops. I gotta be careful with this!" Elmo said as he looked up. "I...I can be a hero now! I have to be mature! Responsible! A force for good. Unlike that duck…wait! I forgot about Hamm!"

Elmo rushed out, thankfully not getting shocked this time, and raced down the hall. He burst through the doors and scrambled over to Hamm's car. He pounded on the door and called Hamm's name. Hamm jolted awake.

"Huh? Sparky! I'm awake!" Hamm said as he opened the door.

Elmo placed his hands on his hips and taped his foot. "So, while I was almost killed by Mallard, you were taking a nap, Chowder head?"

Hamm looked shocked "Mallard was here!"

"Yeah. I'm lucky to be alive. he almost killed me! He tied my hands to the treadmill and turned up the speed!"

Hamm looked devastated, and Elmo decided to let his friend off the hook. "It's okay, Hamm. Take a look at this!" Elmo pointed at the sky and let his lightning loose. Hamm stared at the electricity coming from his rat friend and gasped.

"Whoa. How'd you do that?"

"I think that the constant electrical static charge I went through for hours must have somehow infused my body with electricity. Somehow I'm able to channel it through my body and gave me this power." Elmo said with a huge smile "Think about it, Hamm, now I can do what I always wanted."

"What? Entertain people at cocktail parties?" Hamm said.

"Yes!" Elmo cheered, then stopped and seemed to think. "No, no wait. That's not all I can do! I can become a real superhero now."

"Are you sure about that, Elmo?" Hamm said with a serious look at his friend. "I mean, talking about it was all well and good, but really doing it...it just seems like a whole lot of responsibility for such a little guy."

"Hamm, don't you see! If I don't then it'd be even more irresponsible! I can do this! And the first thing I am gonna to do is get Mallard put away! He's really dangerous Hamm!" Elmo said as he got into the car. "Let's go! I'm not giving Mallard another chance to kill someone!"

Hamm nodded and drove, heading for the block that both Elmo and Mallard lived on. It was dark, almost nine o' clock. Hamm knew that his family, and Elmo's, would be worried. But not, at that moment, he agreed with Elmo. They needed to make sure that Mallard didn't do anything else. It was time to put their money where their mouths were.

Hamm parked the car in an ally a short distance from the house where Mallard lived. He and Elmo got out, and slink over the hedges and fences that separated the alley from Mallard's own back yard.

"Are you sure about this, Elmo?" Hamm asked.

"Yeah." Elmo said as he passed over the last hedge and into enemy territory. "I'm positive."

"Hold it! You can't go in looking like yourself! That's the first superhero rule!" Hamm said. _And if you are wearing some sort of hero outfit then Mallard won't know it's you. I really don't want him to go after you again!_ Hamm thought that as he followed Elmo.

Elmo nodded "You have a point! Just a second. "Elmo vaulted over the fence separating his house from Mallards. He slipped into a small shed. Hamm followed and peeked. Apparently Elmo had converted it into a small lab. Hamm watched as Elmo rummaged around. Eventually he came across a yellow jumpsuit, a pair of blue rubber gloves and shoes, and the biggest pair of goggles Hamm had ever seen.

Hamm shock his head as Elmo changed into the odd getup. "Well, I doubt even your mother would recognize you. Especially with that ridiculous haircut."

"Haircut?" Elmo ran a hand through his hair. Hamm felt a chill when spark shoot out of his friend's hair. That couldn't be doing Elmo any good! "Huh, that is a dumb haircut…ah well! No problem! We have more important things to worry about!" Elmo said as he put on the gloves. "Now, all I need is a name! Something that represents the whole electric rat thing." Elmo said as he rubbed his chin.

"Hmmm, Lightningrod?" Hamm thought. He didn't think that using his nickname for Elmo would be a good idea. Too many people knew who that was.

"No…no…too many weird connotations." Elmo said. "Hmmm, maybe something associated with that light bulb…after all it was all because of my light bulb friend! How about Megawatt!"

"Isn't Megawatt the name of that band that's playing tomorrow at the prom?" Hamm said.

"You're right! Okay, Megavolt! Is that better?" Elmo asked.

"Huh, I actually like that better then Megawatt. It's more impressive."

"Alright! Megavolt it is then!" Elmo laughed.

"Now you sound like a lunatic." Hamm muttered.

"Come on, let's go!" Elmo grinned as he left his shed, followed by Hamm. As Elmo left he picked up a spare video camera. After checking to make sure there was a blank cassette in it. Elmo went outside and vaulted over the hedge. Hamm followed.

"Hey, give me that." Hamm said as he pointed at the camera. "You just got your powers. We don't want you to short that out or something. Plus, if Mallard comes down then you'll have to use your powers!"

"Right, good idea!" Elmo turned and smiled at Hamm "That's why you'd be the best sidekick. You can keep me together. I don't know what I would do without you pal."

Hamm shook his head as he took the camera. "Don't get mushy on me, Megs." Hamm said.

"Megs?"

"Yeah, short for Megavolt." Hamm grinned.

Elmo looked blank for a few seconds then he nodded. He snuck quietly towards a small window at the bottom of the house, a window to the basement. He peeked in and gasped.

"How come none of us ever smelled this?" He hissed.

The floor was littered with bones. Animal bones. Despite this horrifying scene if one looked closely they would have noticed that the bones were far too bright and shiny, as if they had been scoured of flesh. Drake Mallard was standing beside a table with a large bucket. He had something small and furry in his hands.

"Are you getting this Hamm?" Elmo asked.

"Yep." Hamm said. He was shocked, he felt terrified, and cold to his bones. Elmo had been right. Mallard was a madman.

They watched as Mallard swiftly killed the innocent animal, which they really couldn't identify. Then, they watched as he dipped the thing into the bucket. They had no idea why. But when he removed the thing after a few minutes the animal had been reduced to bones. Drake tossed the animal into the bone pile.

"That stuff must be acid of some kind. Mallard's smart enough to not let his victims decompose and stink up the place." Elmo muttered.

As if he suddenly figured out what was going on, Mallard whirled around. As quick as a flash he raced to the window, picking up a chainsaw as he ran. He leaped towards the window and started to climb towards it. He pulled the chainsaw's string and revved the motor.

"Back up!' Elmo shouted as the chainsaw burst through the window, followed by a white feathered hand. Mallard himself arrived a few moments later. Hamm stumbled back, still filming.

"Surrender, lunatic! Surrender to Megavolt, St. Canard's new hero!" Elmo bellowed, seemingly fearless now. Truth was, he was terrified, but he fought the feeling down. This was it. Tonight was going to be the birth of a hero.

Words had apparently failed Mallard. He snarled and charged at Elmo, chainsaw at the ready. Elmo stumbled back and fell. He gestured with his hand, and five points of lightning shot out of them. Three went straight into the air, the fourth nearly hit Hamm, but the last clipped Mallard in the shoulder. Mallard yelped in surprise and pain.

"You freak! You're sliced!" Mallard bellowed in rage and lunged with his chainsaw. Elmo rolled out of the way before the crazed duck could cut him in half. He could feel the chainsaw graze his back. Elmo continued to roll until he hit the side of the house. He pulled himself to one knee.

"Okay, try something a bit narrower." He muttered. He pointed one finger like a pistol and fired. Mallard dodged and continued to come with the chainsaw. Elmo ducked as the chainsaw missed its horizontal slice and cut into the side of the Mallard house, and stuck. Elmo leaned forwards and gripped Mallard's leg. He felt the electricity flow from him to Mallard, who screamed as the energy raced through his blood. Elmo let go and Mallard was left with charred feathers.

However, after a few seconds of being stunned, Mallard forced the chainsaw out of the house, but by this time Elmo was running out of the way, near to the street. Elmo aimed a hand at Mallard, but there was only a feeble sparking.

"Oh…no." Elmo looked at his hand. "What's wrong with you? Come on, spark!" Elmo looked up at Mallard charging at him with the chainsaw. "AH! Any day now, hand!" Elmo shook his hand, but he was out of power. Elmo gave up the effort to try to restart his powers and fled into the street.

Mallard leaped and pinned him down with his feet. He lifted the chainsaw and prepared to finish Elmo off. But at that very moment sirens were heard, and a cop care came carrying into the neighborhood. Elmo mentally blessed the good soul who had called the cops.

"Alright kid, drop the chainsaw and put your hands in the air!" One of the police said as he leaped out of the cop car.

Mallard, breathing heavily, looked from the cops to Elmo to Hamm, who was still filming. He started to laugh, a mad, terrible laugh.

"You knobs. You think you won! You haven't won! I'll be back, and I'll tear that school apart!" He looked down at Elmo and sneered "And as I soon as I figure out who you are…Megavolt, I'm gonna take everything and everyone you love away! One by one! I swear it! You're gonna learn. There. Are. No. Heroes!" With that Mallard swung his chainsaw, slicing a streetlight in half. It fell straight for the cops, who had to dodge out of the way. Faster than anyone could react, Mallard ran to his parked motorcycle and tossed his chainsaw in the sidecar. He jumped on the bike. The big bike reared like a horse and tore out onto the street. Mallard kicked it into high gear, and was soon gone.

The only thing that marked his passing was his horrible, insane laughter.

* * *

><p>The police chief watched the footage with a sad sigh. "Such a shame no one caught this earlier. We might have been able to help that poor boy…"<p>

Hamm and Elmo looked at each other, the description of Mallard as a "poor boy" flabbergasting them.

The Chief sighed "At the very least we had a pair of concerned citizens to catch this before it went even further! We have an APB out on Drake Mallard. Don't worry about his threats. He won't be able to go through with them. The pair of you should go home."

Elmo and Hamm nodded and went to leave the police station. Both sets of parents had been called, and the situation explained to them.

Mr. String was gazing at his son with pride. "Nicely done, my boy! You've made me proud." The big man gently punched his son's shoulder, and Hamm practically glowed.

"Dad thanks. But it was mostly Spar-Elmo here. He's the one who noticed, and he he's the one who took the biggest risk!" He patted Elmo on the shoulder, who looked slightly overwhelmed.

Elmo's mother frowned at him. "Let's go, Elmo." Elmo nodded and followed his mother and father. Elmo's father was also frowning, and he kept his eyes on the ceiling.

"Hey! Don't you want to celebrate?" Mr. String yelled.

Mrs. Sputterspark turned to him with a glare "Now you listen to me, sir." She walked over to Mr. String with a wagging finger "You're not going to tell a single soul about my son's involvement in this! Neither is your son! Not until that little miscreant is caught and put away! And if you have any brain in your head, you'll keep Hamm's part of this quiet as well!"

Elmo shivered next to his father, but not sure why. He wasn't really scared, but he did feel unusually numb and shocked. He should be happy right now, but all he could see was Mallard's enraged eyes. He was almost in shock. He followed his parents without a peep.

As soon as the outside air struck him he felt his stomach turn. He felt the sudden urge to vomit, and rushed to the side of street, where his afternoon mush returned with a vengeance.

"There. That's alright. That'll happen." Elmo's father put a hand on his back. Elmo looked up to his father, who was looking at him with hard, black eyes. Elmo knew that his father had been in the army once, and had been in a war once. "That'll be the shock son. It's alright." Mr. Sputterspark's voice was gentle and calm and Elmo found himself mentally leaning on the voice and calm demeanor of his dad.

Once Elmo finished he followed his dad and mom back to their car. He slid into the back seat, still looking stunned.

Once they got home and in the house, Elmo's father finally spoke.

"Living room, now." He said, his words still shot and to the point, but his voice was still gentle.

Elmo trudged into the living room and sank into an armchair. He was followed by his parents. They sat in a sofa across from him, just staring. Elmo had no idea if they were made or not.

"Elmo." His father begin. "I want you to understand something. You have just terrified your mother and me to no end. If we lost you, it would be the end of us. You're everything to my mother and me. Facing that maniac like that was foolish, and utterly dangerous. I can't say I'm happy about it." Elmo went to say something, but his father raised a hand to silence him "saying that…I can't say that you did wrong either. I should have expected this from you, Elmo. I know I've told you since you were little, that great evil should be fought. It's why I fought in the war in the first place. It's why I let you read all those comic books. They might be ridiculous in their science, but the theme, now that is something different."

Elmo stared into his father's eyes "I'm sorry for scaring you, Dad."

The older rat nodded "Go to bed. It'll be better in the morning."

Elmo sighed and got up "Are…aren't you gonna ground me?"

Mr. Sputterspark shook his head "There is nothing to ground, son."

"I won't do it again! I promise!" Elmo said, with all the naivety of his dying youth, a naivety that would not last for much longer.

His father shook his head "Don't ever make a promise you can't keep, Elmo. I don't doubt that you will terrify your folks again. But…" he sighed and smiled "I can only say that I'll be scared for you, not scared of you. You're a good boy. I know that."

Elmo smiled and nodded, then headed to bed.

* * *

><p>Drake Mallard had ditched his bike and taken to the rooftops, knowing that most people didn't look up for what they were looking for. He knew exactly where he was going, the junkyard. It was time to shake down some people.<p>

Just as he had thought, hanging around the junkyard was a young teenager named Lamont, a kid that Mallard had known when he was little, and the closest thing to a friend that Mallard had. Lamont was a punk, just like Drake, but far less homicidal. He had taken over his older brother's gang when the wannabe musician was killed in a drive by shooting during a robbery at a music store.

A drive by that Mallard had a hand in causing, but he didn't want to think about that now. It wasn't that important.

"Hello, Monty." Mallard hissed at the teen, who had been sneaking a cigarette while he leaned on a battered up old pickup truck. Lamont jumped a mile up in the air then turned to face an unrevved, but still deadly looking chainsaw.

"D-drake! How's it going man! I-"

"Shut up! I need a place to hide, now! You're gonna hide me, or else." Mallard snarled.

Lamont's eyes widened "Yeah, of course buddy! No problem!" Lamont, whose gang used the junkyard as a hideout, led Mallard to what he called The Pile, a mountain of trash. However, the trash was just a cover, literally. The junk camouflaged an old tree house that Lamont's gang had converted into a hideout. The entrance was an old refrigerator that you had to go into and open the back, which swung in and out like a door. Lamont followed Mallard inside, who strutted in like he owned the hideout. As far as he was concerned he did, and Lamont was not about to object. He had heard about what happened tonight, as he kept a little radio tuned to the cop's channel. He knew they were looking for Mallard, and why they were looking for him. However, he was not going to rat out Mallard. Lamont was scared of him, but also admired him. He was a hardcore hood, and now that his brother was dead Lamont had found someone else to look up to.

The rest of the gang looked up in awe as Mallard walked into the hideout. They quickly got out of the way as Mallard barged in, claimed a hammock near the west most wall as his own, and flopped down on it.

"Alright, I need something to drink. Now. And I'm also starving." He glared at the gang. "By the way, I'm your new boss. Anyone wanna challenge that?" Mallard revved up the chainsaw. No one objected.

After several of the younger members had obeyed his demands, Mallard stretched out on his hammock. He kept the chainsaw close, as if he was worried that someone might jump him. He slept lightly that night, but he did dream.

_"I am the terror, that flaps in the night! I am monkey wrench in the machine of evil! I am…"_

_A duck, much like Drake Mallard, was fighting. Fighting hoods, criminals, and villains. His battle cry ran through Mallard's mind. He saw the duck thwart criminal after criminal. He was ridiculous, stupid in his dark purple outfit. He strutted about like a prideful rooster ruling a coop. And yet, he won. Time after time, Drake Mallard saw this strange purple duck win. _

_He saw the imposter battling a large bull, for the sake of a little girl. Saw him chasing bank robbers on a purple motorcycle. Saw him battling plants, aliens, a huge toy bear._

_And then Mallard saw the duck fighting a double, a double dressed in yellow, red and black, like himself. And then, Mallard realized that the double…was himself._

_Then, the purple duck was facing that brat from last night. Megavolt. It was only a brief vision of the rat, but Mallard knew it was him._

_"I am Darkwing Duck…"_

_No! No! This couldn't be! That purple duck! That naive fool! That stupid moralizing imbecile! That little brat! He had Mallard's face! Had his face!_

_Then, a memory, or a dream. The vision of a large, intimidating duck looming over him. He too, had Mallard's face, but the face was…mad. Insane. It was wonderful._

_"Who are you?" Mallard said. His voice was like that of a small child._

_"Negaduck…"_

Mallard woke with a start. He could see dawn filtering in through the cracks in the boards and the junk camouflage.

"We brought you some eggs, Boss." Lamont appeared next to him with a plate of eggs and a glass of something brown in a glass. Mallard gulped down the offerings, not even caring what they were. His mind was racing after that dream.

"Lamont. I need several things today, and they got be here by tonight. I need the boys to hit a costume store and get me a yellow suit, a red hat and a black cape. I need flamethrowers, or at the very least gasoline and matches. I need a gun." Mallard glanced at Lamont, who was giving him an odd look. "What are you doing looking at me like that, you knob? Get to it!" Mallard threw the plate at Lamont, breaking it on his head. The scared canine fled.

Mallard leaned back in his hammock and grinned. He was going to make sure that little prom of theirs would be very memorable.

* * *

><p>Elmo sat back and munched on a little salami. It was pretty good. Though he didn't have a date for the prom he was enjoying himself. Watching the other couples dance was interesting, especially watching Hamm and Preena. The two of them were so sweet together it was giving him a cavity. He was tired from last night, but very very content. He thought it was all over. Mallard was on the run, and while Elmo knew he wasn't caught he was certain that it was going to happen. Where could Mallard go?<p>

As if summoned by these thoughts, a chainsaw's roar was heard. Bursting through the door of the gym was an enraged looking duck. At first Elmo thought it was Mallard, but later he would just chalk that up the chainsaw. The duck was dressed a bit like one of the characters from Elmo's father's old radio dramas. The Slinker, or something like that. He was even holding his cloak in front of his face, to complete the look.

"Beware, St. Canard High. I am Negaduck, and I'm burning this school to the ground!" With that, Negaduck reached behind him and pulled out a bottle filled with gas, with a rag stuffed inside. He pulled out a match and lit the rag. With a dark laugh Negaduck threw the Molotov cocktail into the center of the dance floor. The bottle burst and flames instantly sprang up. There was the sound of a large group of people cheering, and more Molotov cocktails came flying through the windows of the gym.

Reacting fast, and barely keeping himself from panicking, Elmo ran to the back and ducked into a room filled old costumes. He had the foresight to bring his Megavolt costume with him, and had hidden it there. Quickly he changed into the costume and burst back into the gym.

"Megs! Are you okay!" Hamm rushed over to him, a scared looking Preena by his side.

"Hamm, where'd that duck go?" Elmo asked.

"He ran outside." Hamm said and pointed to the door.

Elmo nodded "You have to get these people out here, Hamm. I'll take care of Negaduck!"

Hamm nodded and tried to herd the people out. The students were rushing around and screaming, and Hamm was having a difficult time of it.

Elmo rushed out of the gym, following where Hamm had pointed. It led to the field, which included not only a grassy area and a track, but also several ball courts and the swimming pool. Elmo spotted Negaduck near the pool, tossing his Molotov cocktails at the roof of the rest of the school building.

"Freeze, Negaduck! Your time is up!"

"Ah, Megadolt. How do you like the party? Wanna dance?" Negaduck snapped his fingers, and ten burly gang members rushed to his side "Waste that rat!" Negaduck bellowed.

Elmo balled his hand into a fist then gestured out, spreading the electricity around the field. Again his aim was a bit off. Only two thugs were shot, and one of them, a determined looking mouse, just got right back up and kept charging.

Elmo concentrated as several fists were aimed at him. He could feel the electricity inside him, and he tried to push it out. It worked, and the four thugs who were even now flying at him were shocked before they could land a punch.

Elmo lunged forwards, this time with both hands, zapping three more thugs. One of the other thugs, a dog, swung a metal pipe at his head. Elmo clumsily blocked the blow with his arm. He felt his arm break and he screamed in pain, but the electrical static was still arching through the surface of his skin, and it traveled up the pipe to the thug, who screamed as well.

Elmo lowered his arm and went on the attack. He ran past the last two thugs, electricity arching from his hands as he passed. His aim was true, and the two thugs fell to the ground. Elmo felt elated. He was winning! He really was a hero.

Negaduck grinned as Elmo jumped at him. He darted forwards and grabbed the rat by the shoulders. Elmo put all of his power into another electric shock, but to his horror nothing happened. It was then that he noticed that Negaduck was now wearing rubber gloves.

Negaduck spun around and tossed Elmo into the pool. I was as if Negaduck knew that water would be Elmo's weakness. Elmo expected to just get a peaceful landing, but instead he felt like he had been hit by a train. His eyes bugged from their sockets. His body was ridged and straight, and even though he tried he couldn't move at all. He felt trapped, and hot and drained, all at the same time. Lighting arched from his body as he screamed, shorting out for the first time. It felt like an eternity, but eventually he ran out of juice, and sank into the pool.

A rubber gloved hand dipped into the pool and tossed him out. "No way. You aren't dying that easily! Look at that!" Negaduck pointed towards the burning gym; which Elmo could barely see "Look at it burn! I don't know who you are, but I told you that you would see everything you loved dead! I always keep my promises!"

"M-Mallard…" Elmo muttered his mind slow and sluggish.

"Hahahahaaha!" Negaduck laughed. "There is no more Drake Mallard! There's only Negaduck. Think about this, next time you want to play hero." Negaduck leaned forwards and whispered into Elmo's ear "And as soon as I find out who you are, you're family is next. Sleep tight, ratty." Negaduck released Elmo, letting him fall to the ground. Laughing, Negaduck snapped his fingers, and his gang formed around them. They ran off, satisfied with the night's destruction.

Elmo looked back up at the gym and tried to crawl towards it, but before he could get two inches the entire place exploded.

"Hamm. Preena." He muttered, but he had no more strength left. Darkness overtook the young rat, and he knew no more.

* * *

><p>When he woke up he heard the sounds of sirens. Elmo tiredly got up and dragged himself towards the gym, which was no longer on fire. However, it was nothing more than a burnt husk.<p>

The EMPs who were dragging the injured students out didn't see Elmo at all, as he was still in the shadows. He almost went out to them, but then he saw it. A large, muscular body underneath a white sheet, lying on the ground with a bunch of other motionless bodies. However, one hand was sticking out. The pink hand of a pig and on this hand was a school ring. It was a unique school ring, as it didn't have the mascot of the school on it, but on one side was a large dragon, and the other was a tiger. Hamm hadn't gotten a ring with the school mascot, because he wanted the ring to represent himself, not just the school. The dragon was for his friend, who loved fantasy and the tiger was his Chinese Zodiac sign, which he liked better then the western one because he thought tigers were cooler.

"Hamm. No!" Elmo backed away. "Oh God, Hamm, what have I done!"

Elmo couldn't face them. Couldn't face the dead bodies of the people he failed, and couldn't face the living people who would know that he had failed. He couldn't face Hamm's parents, because it was because of Elmo that Hamm was dead. If he hadn't asked Hamm to stay…

Elmo fled, tears blinding his eyes. He hated himself. He hated Negaduck. He wanted to wake up from this nightmare. How could this have happened! All he wanted to do was to help people! To prevent people like Mallard, like Negaduck, from hurting innocent people! Why did it happen? Why? What had Elmo done wrong? He had thought he had done everything right, but now Hamm was dead, and it was all Elmo's fault. And Negaduck's.

Elmo had finally come to his house, and was coming in through the back, but it was here he was struck with a horrible realization. If he went home then Negaduck might find out who he was! He could slip up, going from Elmo to Megavolt. Then, when he was least expecting it he could come home to find his house burned, and his parent's dead.

He knew then that he couldn't be Megavolt and Elmo at the same time. One of them had to go, forever.

He looked into his window, to the living room. His parent's were watching the news, and although. Elmo couldn't see the screen he had a feeling he knew what it was showing. His mother was openly weeping, probably thinking he was dead. His father just watched the screen, a grim expression on his face.

Elmo yearned to rush in, to tear off this stupid costume, burn it, and then hug his mother and father until none of them could breathe. He wanted his room, his harmless comics where this kind of thing didn't happen, or at least happened to people he didn't care about. He wanted his fantasy books, where the hero's always knew what they were doing and always won in the end. He wanted his science experiments, with their logic and methodical answers.

But then he thought of Negaduck. If left alone Negaduck would keep it up, keep hurting innocent people. If he didn't at least try to stop Negaduck, who would? There was no one, and now Negaduck had an army. He wanted to say that the police would handle it, or someone else would take care of it, but wasn't that would everyone else would say? If that happened then no one would stand up to Negaduck, because they would all step aside for someone else to take up the responsibly. But no one else had Elmo's power.

"Elmo. I know."

Elmo looked up and gazed at his father. The older rat had come out, looking grim.

"Dad, I."

"I didn't go as well this time, did it? That happens, son. A true warrior sometimes loses. What those comics of yours don't tell you is that there is a price when they fail. You know that now, don't you?"

"Yeah…Dad, I…what do I do?" Elmo said.

His father sighed and shook his head. "Elmo, before I went off to war my father told me this. He said that, if I was old enough to think I had what it took to fight then I could decide if I should fight or not. If it was worth it. Do you think it is worth it?"

"Dad, he's threatening you and mom! Negaduck, Drake Mallard, if he finds out that-"

"If he finds out that you are Megavolt he will come after us. I haven't forgotten all of my old tricks, Elmo, but I'm not as young as I used to be. I haven't fought in a long, long time."

"Wait, how do you know about Megavolt?"

"Elmo, that doesn't matter right now. You have a choice to make, and it must be your own. I want you to stay, but if you feel that it's the right thing. If you feel that you must fight this duck, I will not stand in your way. Either way, it is your choice." Mr. Sputterspark smiled, for the first time that night. "And I am proud of you either way."

Elmo stared at his father, and then stared at his house. He closed his eyes, and then sighed. "Dad, you said it yourself. Great evil must be fought."

Mr. Sputterspark nodded in resignation. "I never thought I would see my own son go to war." His eyes were glued to Elmo, as if memorizing every feature of his son's face. "Go then. Do what you must, but remember that once it is over you will always have a home here."

"Elmo?" Mrs. Sputterspark came out. The look on her face told Elm that she had heard it all. "I…oh Elmo!" His mother ran to him and hugged him, hugged him so hard he thought his spine would break. He was holding her just as hard. Tears were pouring out of his eyes, and wanted so much to go home.

But he couldn't, not now. Probably not ever.

Finally, though it was too soon for both of them, his mother let go of Elmo "I want you to come home, son. No matter how long it takes, no matter what happens, come home. Promise me that!"

Elmo hugged her once again "I promise Mom. I'll come home."

Mrs. Sputterspark backed away, trying to smile at her son, but failing. Elmo took one last look at his parents, then turned around and walked away. Inspired by some instinct he claimed a telephone pole and placed a foot on the wire. His foot sparked, and he knew that he could skate on it.

He turned back once to look back at his parents. His mother was crying on his father's shoulder. Mr. Sputterspark stood straight and tall, and gave his son on final nod.

Wiping one last tear, Megavolt turned from his home of almost seventeen years, and skated on the telephone poles. For a few moments the sparks under his feet persisted through the night, but soon they were gone as well.

After a bit the Sputtersparks when back to their house. If anyone asked them they would say that Elmo had gone missing, and they assumed that he had died in the fire. But everyone who knew them would say that they didn't like to speak of Elmo at all.

And, years later, no one else would speak of Elmo Sputterspark at all. He was a ghost.

* * *

><p>And for five years, no one spoke about Megavolt either. For five years he disappeared off the radar. But then, one day a young rat appeared on the streets of St. Canard. He wore a yellow jumpsuit, blue rubber gloves and boots, a large battery on his back, and a plug hat. The newspapers laughed at him the first few times he brought petty crooks to justice, but then, after a few months, people began to take Megavolt seriously.<p>

Including Negaduck. For five years Negaduck had built an underground empire of gangs and thugs. He was ruling the underworld of St. Canard. No one would challenge the rising crime lord, no one.

Except Megavolt.

Just as the five years preceding had been silent, the next three were filled with battle and chaos. Megavolt and Negaduck clashed all over the streets of St. Canard. While Megavolt excelled at the petty criminals, and even put away a few powerful ones, Negaduck was always the one crook he could not beat.

Megavolt never took on another sidekick, or took on a partner. He was alone, always alone.

Until the day he met a mad toymaker named Quackerjack. Though he had heard of the strange jester, Megavolt never met him. But even though they had never meet, Quackerjack shared something very, very important with Megavolt, for the rat was not the only one whose family had been torn apart by Negaduck's evil…


	3. Quackerjack

An Author's Note: Wow…got through two chapters without one of these…I'm getting better.

Anyway, a bit of warning, since all we get in the series of Quackerjack's past is that he was A) Bankrupt by Whiffle Boy and that he is B) Totally out of his gourd. That's a lot less character development then the other three get. Therefore, in making a back story for Nega-Quackerjack I had to do what everyone who has read my work either loves or dreads. I made stuff up. And yes, there are OCs. I do that a lot…but you probably noticed that.

Oh, and I don't own Darkwing duck or the Negaverse. Or the other Negaverse, for that matter.

Anyway, enjoy.

Quackerjack

Negaduck glared outside the window of the home he had bought, glaring down the street with an expression that promised doom for someone. He had bought the house for only one purpose, to hide the secret entrance to his new hideout, the tower. He had grown tired of living in the hideouts of his various gangs, and he now ran them from his new base hidden in the Audubon Bay Bridge. However, he also needed a place where no one, not even his gang members, could find him. He knew that loser Megavolt was after him, and if by chance Megavolt learned of the Audubon hideout then Negaduck would still have a place to hide and run to ground. No one would think to look for the evil crime lord Negaduck in this peaceful neighborhood.

Unfortunately he also had to deal with the inconveniences of said neighborhood. Oh, the Muddlefoots next door were okay. He had seen their little skeletons in the closet a long time ago, through various spying methods. They were the kind of neighbor that normal people would hate, with their secret love of destruction and terror. No, it was not the Muddlefoots that were the problem.

It was that damn clown.

It seemed that every damn kid on the block was having a birthday this month, and they always hired the Damn Clown; a clown that, in Negaduck's opinion, shouldn't exist, especially considering where he was from.

Negaduck's eyes drifted to an old newspaper. He had dug the thing out of storage, in order to remind himself. The headline was simple: _Toy Tycoon Dies in Fatal Heart Attack_. It made Negaduck feel a bit better, but only a bit. He didn't like loose ends, and that clown was a loose end.

He grinned when he remembered how he offed that "toy tycoon". William Quacker Sr had run the Quackerjack Toys Company for a long time, and while he was reportedly honest and hardworking, something that most businessmen were not famous for, he still had his enemies. One of those enemies, Negaduck didn't know or care which, had decided that Quacker was in the way. So Negaduck had been hired to kill him. Rather than the usual explosive methods that he preferred, Negaduck did the employer a favor and slipped a drug into Quacker's iced tea. He had suffered a fatal heart attack in his office. Negaduck had cashed in, and for a year had forgot about the killing, just another in a long line of murders.

Now, however, the clown was annoying him, and Negaduck decided to investigate, purely because watching that imbecile caper and entertain kids was pissing Negaduck off. He had seen the large, cartoonish logo of that dratted toy company plastered on the brightly colored (offensively colored) clown van that moron drove. Investigation had led Negaduck to discover that, after the father's death, Quacker's eldest son Robert had taken over the company, and had even signed a contract with Whiffle Boy Industries, who mad that dumb video game. While WBI made the games, Quackerjack Toys made the tie in stuffed animals, action figures, and playing card game. A year later Quackerjack toys was just as big as it had been in Negaduck's youth, and WBI was rising right beside it.

It made Negaduck furious. When he killed someone and tore their family apart they needed to stay torn! What was worse, he had found out the identity of that clown that plagued him. William Quacker Jr. the younger son.

Negaduck hated him with almost as much passion as he hated Megavolt. Not only did the moron presume to trot about Negaduck's street and spread annoying sparkly laughing happiness to people, but he did it for absolutely nothing! The knob was the last heir to a well known toy dynasty, and he chose to tramp around the streets entertaining snotty nosed brats, for nothing! Oh yes, Negaduck had investigated thoroughly, and found that it was very easy to hire this clown, and the price was ridiculously cheap. He had even been told that the clown didn't do it for profit, but for fun! Because, apparently, he really liked kids and liked to make them happy.

Negaduck would just have to fix that. He would have to fix it permanently. He grinned down at another paper, yesterdays to be exact: _New Toy Museum to Open Saturday._ The article had gone on to tell who, exactly, was opening that museum, a museum dedicated to showcasing the history of toys. There would be toys everywhere, from the oldest primitive cave duck straw dollies to the high tech modern robots. And, best of all, the museum had been built by the Quacker brothers. Negaduck could even confirm that the younger duck in the newspaper photo was his annoying clown. It was the buck teeth that gave it away. You never saw teeth that huge. He had to be some sort of idiot. Hell, he could blind people with those, if Negaduck was right.

Negaduck smiled. Tomorrow would be the day. Soon that clown would be no more. He might have been able to bounce back from personal tragedy, but there was no bouncing back from a bullet to the head.

* * *

><p>William Quacker, known as Billy by everyone save his older brother, was currently standing on his head, juggled seven brightly colored orange balls with his feet and hands. His head hurt, but he didn't really care. He was too busy focusing on the happy cheers of his audience, who loved it. Five minutes ago these kids were whining about clown acts being dull, but Billy had, with a few tricks and a very winning personality had turned all that around. It was one of his greatest gifts, that and the ability to build just about anything from a few nuts and bolts, as long as that thing was a toy of some sort.<p>

_And by the way, Billy, you have only ten more minutes._

_Oh shut up, Boss._

_Do you really want to disappoint Bobby?_

_Look at em laugh!_

_I see, you have nine minutes._

_Lemmie finish!_

_Hurry, Billy._

_Yeah. Yeah._

Billy flicked a switch on each of the balls as they came down, and instantly they started to spew fire from several holes. The crowd of children ooed and aahed while the parents shifted about in a nervous manner. But it was alright. Billy had designed the balls, and he knew where to place his hands and feet so he wasn't hurt. Plus, he had thought to put on a pair of flame retardant gloves and shoes. As long as he didn't do this for long he was fine.

For five more minutes he juggled in various patterns, patterns that, had he not practiced, would have tied his arms and legs into knots. And wouldn't that be funny?

_Hilarious. Now finish!_

_You're no fun, Headboss._

Deciding to comply with "Headboss" Billy tossed all his fireballs into the air. He leaped up to his feet and pulled out a water gun from…somewhere, and as the fireballs came down towards his head he nailed each on with water, putting them out.

Billy smiled at the cheers form the crowd, though the ones from the parents sounded more relived the children. Billy didn't mind. Adults really didn't understand him.

_Looking past the fact that you are an adult._

_You only have to grow old, not grow up._

_Says the twenty two year old._

_Please go away while I talk to the nice lady._

_Oh fine._

"That was amazing! How do you do it?" The mother of the kid whose birthday this was, Billy had lost track of her name somewhere, approached him with a smile. Billy made sure to focus on her. He had learned that, for some reason, people liked you to look them in the eye. He had no idea why.

"Just a lot of practice." He looked down at the kids "None of you better try that! It takes a lot of training!"

"I want a ball like that!" The birthday boy pointed at one of Billy's inventions. His mother looked horrified.

"Ah. Um." Billy hesitated "I need this one, but I got something better that you can have, but only because it's your birthday!" Billy edged towards a bag near the fence and pulled out a clear ball, similar to the one he owned. He hit a switch and the ball began to flash in multicolors. When Billy placed it on the ground it bounced all of its own accord. Instantly the child's eyes lit up and he chased the ball, forgetting about its more dangerous cousins.

The mother smiled at Billy as the children ran after the ball "Are you sure he can have that?"

"Of course! It is his birthday, right?" Billy said. Although no doubt Bobby would say things to the board of directors about good pr and other stuff that Billy didn't understand, the real reason Billy did it was to see the kid happy. Billy loved his dangerous toys. He loved making things that fired missiles and guns and that lit on fire. It was like a nervous tic he couldn't control. But as much as he loved to invent weapons, for that was what many of his toys really were, he liked children more. And, despite what some would think, Billy knew the difference between a children's toy, and his deadly toys.

After receiving several grateful thanks from the mother, as well as a slice of the birthday cake as a going away gift, Billy took his clown equipment and loaded up his offensively bright colored van and started back to the office. He had to go to one of those dull meetings again. Bobby insisted.

_And that meeting starts in ten minutes. You better hurry._

_What are you, Headboss, my timekeeper?_

_Might as well be. _

_Why do I talk to you?_

_You're nuts, Billy._

_No I'm not._

_You're talking to a voice in your head._

_No, I'm not._

And he wasn't. Not really. There was no "voice". Not really a "Headboss". It was just the way Billy's mind worked. It was just his thoughts that, for some reason, chose to manifest themselves in an internal dialogue.

_First sign of madness is talking to yourself, Billy._

_Yeah, but as long as I don't talk to you out loud I'm fine, and as long as you don't start telling me to do something really crazy. Like 'spill the blood of the innocent' or something like that._

_You know no one else does this, Billy._

_Oh shut up._

_You didn't do this a year ago, before Father died._

"Would you shut up?" Billy screamed. It was a good thing he was in a car, or someone would have heard him.

_See? What did I tell you…_

Billy aggressively turned the radio on and listened to whatever music was on with the intensity of a drowning man paddling towards a life boat. He wasn't crazy. He wasn't.

Even if he was crazy, he wasn't dangerous. He was sure of it.

* * *

><p>Robert Quacker tapped his foot gently as he gazed out his window, waiting to see that silly clown car his brother drove. If William had remembered to leave his birthday appointment on time then he should be here any minute. Robert sighed. His brother worried him a lot. He was, off. He had been off every since their father's death. Okay, so William had always been something of an eccentric. He was a toymaker, not just a designer. William's room had always been filled with little clockwork bears and stuffed dolls and little plastic racing cars. All of these were items he had built himself. William had built many original toys from scratch, and some of his designs, okay most of them, had been incorporated into the Quackerjack toy line.<p>

Then their father had died. While Robert struggled to maintain the company, William had gone…off. He started that clown thing, a thing that at first Robert thought of as a silly hobby, but now was starting to concern him. His concern increased when he found out that William's designs had now started to include blades in the toy bears and acid shooting out of the toy car windows. It worried him a lot. William said it was to get the "shadow man." The man that, William claimed, had been lurking around when their father died. William refused to accept the fact that their father had died of a heart attack, instead blaming it on this unseen specter. Robert humored him, if only because he felt so bad about the entire deal. They were basically orphans now, and Robert had no idea how to help William. He considered therapy, but that would mean admitting that William had gone insane.

Robert wasn't ready to admit that. After all, his brother was harmless. He designed weapons, but he was aware that they were weapons. He didn't use them to hurt anyone.

The older brother might have resembled an older version of William, save for the buck teeth that Robert lacked, but the two of them were almost the exact opposite in demeanor. While William had a tendency to lean towards almost euphoric unexplained happiness that might be described as mania, and then suddenly swinging towards anger and downright childish behavior, Robert was completely the opposite. He was overall calm as a rule, and wasn't prone to silliness. He was determined to be the steady one in the family, since his brother didn't seem inclined to be serious for ten measly minutes. He knew that sometimes when he talked to William he came off as condescending and patronizing, but how in the world was a man supposed to respond when his sibling dressed like a jester, and did that all the time. There were times that Robert had to physically restrain William from wearing that bell hat outside in public.

It was rather frustrating.

Robert smiled as he saw the clown car pull up to the drive. His brother was on time. Perhaps the worst was over, and William was starting to get serious. He hoped so. What kind of life was that of a clown? Robert just didn't understand his brother in this regard.

He frowned however, when William came in a few moments later, still dressed in that silly jester outfit. Dangly bell toped hat and all.

"William." Robert said gently. "What have you forgotten?"

"Huh? Oh!" William smiled, showing all of his teeth as usual. He sort of…skipped over to the side bathroom, that, after a few incidents, Robert had finally converted into a sort of changing room for when his brother forgot to take off his costume. This happened a lot, and it scared Robert to no end. He was almost convinced that, if his brother forgot to take off that costume for too long then it wouldn't be a costume anymore. William would really be a clown.

William emerged from the bathroom wearing a suit, something that Robert knew he hated. He knew that William only did it to make him happy.

"Bobby." William whined "Why do I even have to go to this meeting! I never really get to say anything, and its soooo boring!"

"William, this isn't just my company, it's yours as well. You need to be more involved in it."

"I am involved!"

"I mean involved in things other than just dressing up as a clown and entertaining children." Robert said through gritted teeth. "You need to be more responsible."

William moaned and pouted for a bit, as Robert knew he would. It was the same pattern every time they did this. A part of Robert knew that it would be easier to just stick his brother in the nearest mental facility and just dive off. He had enough money to pay whatever bills might be involved. It would make life so much easier for him. He wouldn't have to constantly worry about those weapons that William was building, and he wouldn't have to worry about his brother embarrassing him. Who knew what the press would think of those exploding jawbreakers? He wouldn't have to constantly wonder when William would finally crack once and for all. Still, Robert knew that he could not do that. William was his brother, and he couldn't betray him like that, even if it would be far more convenient.

"Now, I'll let you have that notebook of yours, but you have to promise me not to make paper airplanes or boats or octopi."

"It was an origami squid! It was cute!" William objected.

"No paper origami, William." Robert said with infinite patience. "Promise." Robert folded his arms and stared at his brother, who wouldn't, or couldn't, meet his eyes.

"Oh alright." William grumbled, rocking back and forth on his feet. He could never seem to sit still.

Robert nodded, satisfied that his brother would keep his word. Though William could be very erratic and strange, he usually kept his promises. Robert led his brother out of the office and started to head down the hall, hoping that there would be no incident this time. That old bat Weatherworth was supposedly not out of the hospital yet after that incident with the origami squid. Robert had very nearly strangled William after that little scene. The only thing that stopped him was the knowledge that William hadn't meant any real harm. He just got easily bored. That was why Robert was letting him have his idea notebook. Hopefully William would start to draw toy concepts instead of making strange tentacled beasts out of the stationary.

"Hey, I want to show you something later. At the cave." William bounced over beside his brother. Robert sighed.

"Let's get through this before you do anything else to bring this company down on our heads." Robert hissed. "And stop bouncing! Try to pretend you have a little bit of dignity!"

"Bobby, that's mean." The pathetic look his brother gave him softened Robert's expression, but didn't do much for his exasperation. Or the migraine he was getting. Or the tired feeling in his bones. He was just so sick of this. Sick of all this.

"Just please behave. For me." Robert asked.

"I already promised you." It was rare that William looked serious these days, but for a brief moment he did. Robert nodded and walked into the conference room, hoping that William didn't bounce. For once the younger Quacker brother didn't bounce, though Robert had a feeling that he would have if he could.

But there wasn't time to think about that. Facing the huge table of stern faced old men and women always made Robert feel like a large child dressing up in Daddy's close and putting on an act. He felt sick, physically sick, being in this room. It didn't help that he always had to wonder when William would do something.

Robert took his place at the head of the table, his brother sitting beside him. Robert took a deep breath and began to talk about the stock reports.

* * *

><p>Seven minutes of stock reports later, and Billy was about to go stark raving nuts. Or at least more nuts then he usually was. Knowing that Bobby would be disappointed if he made a scene, Billy took out his notebook and started to doodle. Hopefully anyone who saw him would think he was taking notes or something, and if he stayed nice and quiet he would be able to get out of this and go do something productive. His fingers practically itched with the need to build things.<p>

Drawing his ideas was, if not as good as actual building, at least something for his nervous fingers to do. He began to stretch the first thing that came to mind…a bear! Who didn't like cuddly teddy bears! His mind raced. What could make this one special? They already had bears and dolls that would talk when you either pulled a string or squeezed their tummies. How about something a little more…interactive. Children were harder to impress these days. What if there was a way to program a robot bear that could follow simple commands, even to the point of doing tasks?

Billy's pen scribbled furiously as he designed the thing he was thinking of building. The robotics would have to be very advanced, but Billy knew that it was possible. His most recent invention was proof of that. The bear would have to be made of something sturdy, so the interior stuff would be protected. It wouldn't be very cuddly though. But the novelty of a toy robot bear that could play with a child instead of just sitting there would make up for that.

Wait what if it had nine inch long claws and fangs! Make them nice and sharp, sharp enough to bite through other metal! If you strengthened the arms and legs then you would have a super strong robot teddy bear that could fight a shadow figure that made Daddies go poof!

"Moving on the opening tomorrow…"

Billy finally looked up from his bear and paid some attention. The museum! Now that was interesting! It had been Billy's idea, brought on by the deal that his brother had signed with that Whiffle Boy. Billy didn't like video games. They weren't wholesome, good toys. They'd rot your brain, but Bobby had insisted that, in order to save their company, they had to sign that deal. What really annoyed Billy was that his brother had been right. Billy hated it when that happened.

So, a few weeks after the contract had been signed and Billy had finally come out of his room where he had retreated in an annoyed temper tantrum, he had a brilliant idea. He wanted to keep the old toys, or at least have someplace where the poor things wouldn't be forgotten. Somewhere where the old toys could be remembered and valued for what they were. Sure it was not as good as having them actually being played with by happy children, but it was at the very least a compromise. So, for the first time Billy had actually put forwards an idea for the company, and to his surprise everyone loved it. Even the Whiffle people loved it. What was even better was that Billy would get to go in his jester costume, representing Quackerjack Toys as their mascot; something that Billy knew his brother secretly hated, but couldn't really argue about. Okay, Whiffle Boy would be there as well, and Billy knew that he would have to play nice. But he could that. He knew how to place nice.

"There have been rumors." One of the older gentlemen near the head of the table said. Billy struggled to remember his name, but just couldn't. "I've heard that you've received threats from Negaduck himself. They say that he will attack tomorrow."

Billy watched his brother's spine stiffen like a board. He wondered if you put your ear next to his back when he did that, if you would hear one of those twanging noises. It was an interesting thought.

_One of these days his back is going to snap right in half._

_He's under a lot a pressure._

_I know._

_You don't help._

_I know…_

"I have received no such threats." Bobby said coldly "And even if I had, I'm not going to halt the grand opening of that museum, especially not for a petty crime lord with a bad taste in fashion." Not even Billy missed the eyes that slid his direction, as everyone thought of the old saying about the pot and kettle. Billy didn't let it bother him. What did they know?

"But I've heard that Negaduck is-"

"Negaduck." Robert hissed "Is a lunatic. A fool wearing a mask and cape, running around pretending he is some sort of supervillian from a comic book. He's not a threat, or even worth dwelling on. The only person worth less of our valuable time, gentleman, is that 'arch-enemy' of his. Megawatt or whatever he is called."

"Megavolt." Billy corrected.

For the first time, Bobby turned his gaze to his brother. "What?"

"The arch enemy. His name's Megavolt." Billy said.

Bobby inhaled. He had the same look that, years ago when they were small, had preceded either a fight or a pounding. Robert didn't usually hurt his brother, but there had been times when he was younger that Robert had been so frustrated by Billy that he had thrown a few punches. Billy ignored him. He usually did when his brother got that bloated puffer fish look on his bill.

"No consequence." Robert repeated "But, if it makes the rest of you feel better, I will request the city police to provide some extra security. I doubt that this 'Negaduck'" Robert rolled his eyes "Will have the courage to show himself. Now." Robert drew himself up with a firm look. "I think it's time to adjourn this meeting; unless someone wants to bring the activities of Bigwebfoot to our attention?"

The others chuckled and began to leave, a few of them pairing off to go do…whatever it was that businessmen do when they are not in boring meetings discussing things on little charts with the graphs and the pie things and the numbers. Billy had no idea what it was all for, though Bobby didn't seem to have any trouble with it at all.

_You'd never survive without your brother, you know that right? You're only good for entertaining kids and making weapons. How perfectly pathetic._

_Oh shut up._

_You'd be out on the street, digging in garbage cans for food and sleeping in the park. You can't hold on to this company by yourself. You can barely make breakfast by yourself._

"Shut up, shut up, shut up." Billy muttered as he stared at the window across from him. It had a nice view of Audubon Bridge, as well as the bay. Billy barely noticed it.

"William? William!" A hand landed on Billy's shoulder, shocking him back to reality.

"Huh?" He looked up at Robert. "Oh, ummm. I was just thinking out loud. Sorry."

Robert was no longer wearing the puffer fish look. Now he was giving Billy a look that hurt much more than that. It was a look of worry and a bit of pity. Billy hated it. Every time Robert looked at him that way, as if there was something fundamentally wrong with Billy, it made Billy realize just how strange he was. How much he had changed. Robert had changed too, though it was more subtle. There was so much tension in his brother's body, and he was always tired when he came home. And now Billy noticed something else, the dark circles underneath his brother's eyes.

"Do you want to go home now, William?" Robert asked. He looked like he was going to drop on the ground right there.

Billy didn't usually stay at the office. He was most often found in his underground workshop or at home, playing with his toys. But now, seeing the drained look on Robert's face, he just couldn't do it. Not today.

"Is there anything I can do to help you, Bobby?" He said.

The shocked, pleased expression on his brother's face made Billy extremely happy. He didn't volunteer, but today he did, and he was not sorry it happened.

Something told him that tomorrow was going to be bad. Billy had a very bad feeling. He didn't say anything though. Bobby would never have listened to him anyway.

* * *

><p>The rest of the day was spent filing, cataloging and running papers around for his brother. Billy hated it, but he did it. He had promised, and he would do it. It was a great relief, however, when quitting time came.<p>

Billy followed his brother in his clown car, as he preferred to drive himself then let Bobby take him. Despite the fact that the brothers could have afforded drivers neither of them indulged in this. Billy because it didn't seem right to have someone else drive his beloved little clown car. Robert just thought it was silly to ask someone to do something that he could easily do himself. They didn't have any servants either, save for a cleaning lady that came every other day to dust the place and pick up Billy's toys. She was a big advocate of putting Billy in a mental hospital, but Robert still refused point blank.

Their home was big and old, a nice mansion on the outskirts of St. Canard. While it wasn't the McDuck mansion, it certainly was not a suburban home either.

"Come on! Let me show you what I made!" Billy said as he backflipped over to his brother, very excited. Robert shook his head, but then nodded.

"Fine fine. Let's go."

Billy jumped and clapped his hands, much to Robert's annoyance. Billy ignored him. Instead, he jumped and bounded to an area almost out of the range of their property, somewhere near the edge of the tree line.

A long time ago, when Billy was ten and Robert was fourteen, Billy had stumbled on a cave in the woods outside their property. It was technically part of a national forest, and Billy had usually used the forest as a place to play with his toys. He had found the cave when his Superpig action figure had been thrown in a hole by Billy himself, who was trying to get it to fly. Billy had naturally followed it down, and found the cave. After climbing back up and finding Robert, the two of them had explored the place. The cave system was large and spacey, and it went on under the national forest for several miles. It was pretty deep as well, the lower levels were so dark that you couldn't see in front of your face, and a few chambers had nastily crawly things like bugs and maggots and nasty things.

The biggest chamber was almost in the middle of the woods, and it was here that Billy and Robert had constructed a workshop there. Billy had become entranced with the place, and decided to make it his own personal hideout, and a place where he could build toys in private. It had taken a while for Billy to build his little paradise, but in the end he had gotten what he wanted. The hideout was fully furnished and ran on a series of generators. It had electricity; running water siphoned from an underground river, and even had a few bedrooms in the adjoining chambers.

Billy had laced the tunnels of the cave system with track run bumper cars, so that any entrance he found he could just ride to wherever he needed to go. Billy led his brother to one of these, a tunnel that was hidden in a stump.

After a brief and steady trip down to Billy's hideout, the two brothers had arrived. Billy leaped out of the car with a joyful shout, and Robert followed at a sedate pace.

"Lookie lookie!" Billy cartwheeled over to a large monkey doll, complete with cymbals and a little fez. It was a huge doll, almost twice as tall as Robert.

"That is pretty huge." Robert said, impressed.

"Watch this, Bobby!" Billy jumped back towards his brother and brought out a whistle. He blew it, and the things surged to life. It rumbled forwards, clashing its cymbals and walking forwards. Robert whistled, impressed.

"No windup. No physical activation. All just from a voice. Very well done, William."

"That's not all it can do! Bobo! Smash!" Billy pointed at a large block. Most of his décor in the hideout was toy themed.

Obeying his master, the ape lumbered over to the block. With hardly any effort at all, Bobo picked the block up with his cymbals and crushed the block. Robert stared at it with wide, terrified eyes.

"See! We can take him to the opening! If Negaduck does attack, then Bobo will take care of him! Isn't that great!"

Robert looked at Billy, horrified "William, no! That thing's a weapon, not a toy!"

Billy stomped his foot "I know it's a weapon! It's supposed to be a weapon! That's what we will need for Negaduck!"

"William, you don't actually think that Negaduck will attack! It's insane!"

"You never listen to me!" Billy whined. "Dad was murdered and you jus-"

Robert grabbed Billy by the front of his shirt and lifted him up. "Father had a heart attack. You need to stop pretending that he didn't! You are scaring me, William. I worry about you a lot."

"Why don't you ever listen to me!" Billy shouted angrily at his brother.

"Because the things you say make no sense!" Robert said. "Our father wasn't murdered, who would want to murder him? He was a good man, and no threat to anyone! You have to stop this, William. It's not healthy. I know you're hurt. So am I! But you keep doing these things. These weapons, the shadow person, the clown thing! Don't you see how close you are to being institutionalized! If anything were to happen to me…"

Billy's eyes widened. "You-you wouldn't leave me! I don't make you that angry, do I?"

Robert sighed. "William, I worry about you a lot."

"Please don't leave me!" Billy begged. "Please, I know I'm not good! I know, I know. But if you leave. I don't want you to go!" Though the words were that of a desperate child, Billy's tone was becoming increasingly angry.

"William, calm down." Robert said. "Just, slow down. I didn't mean it like that. Please, relax." Robert kept his voice calm and steady, and Billy's panic filled rage faded. Billy finally settled down, and Robert put a hand on his shoulder "I'm not going to abandon you. I won't let anyone take you away from me. It'll be alright. I promise."

Billy stared into his brother's eyes. "I don't want you to go."

"It's okay, it's okay..."

While his brother tried to comfort him, a strange, banana doll stared at them with emotionless, stuffed eyes.

_He won't be here for long, Billy. What a mad little clown you are… _

* * *

><p>"Quackerjack Toys and Whiffle Boy Industries are proud to present the greatest duo in entertainment history! Quackerjack the clown and Whiffle Boy! In the flesh."<p>

Billy tried to ignore the guy in the Whiffle Boy costume as he leaped onto the stage in full clown mode. He had wondered about the idea of using their great-grandfather's old stage name, the name he used for his toy company when he had founded it, but he didn't question Robert's idea. Besides, he was too busy enjoying himself.

"Heey kids!" Billy danced a bit on the stage, a big grin on his beak. "Whose ready for Plaaaaaaaaaaaaytime!"

A chorus of cheers met him, though logically he knew that more than half of them were probably for the Whiffledoof, he wasn't going to let that stop him from…well being Quackerjack. He knew now why his great grandpaw loved this old act of his. It was fun.

"Hey Wiffley! Catch!" As soon as the Whiffledork walked up Billy lobbed a banana at him. He didn't know why he did that. It just seemed right at the time.

For a second the actor dropped his own act and batted the banana away. "Control yourself." He hissed at Billy, forgetting that he had a microphone on and that every kid and adult could hear him.

Billy, who had not forgotten, grinned and stood on one hand. He snagged a huge plastic model of a game control off a table advertizing the Whiffle Boy products. "Gee, I thought you were the one with the controller, pal." The 'pal' was not said with any affection at all.

"Hahahaha, how else do you expect a clown to act, Whiffle Boy?" Robert came up and appeared to hug his brother with one arm. What he really was doing was giving Billy's arm a sharp squeeze, as if trying to get him to stay focused "It's all in good fun, right." Robert's eyes slid over to Billy, who felt the sudden urge to kill Whiffle Boy. He fought it down.

"Right, we're all friends here, right?" Billy said, and extended a hand to shake Whiffle Boy's. The moron took it, not even noticing the hidden zapper in Billy's hand until it shocked him. Billy fell down laughing as Whiffledip screeched a bit in pain.

You would expect the audience of Whiffle Boy loving kids to hate this, but perhaps there was something in Billy's acting that endeared him to them. They laughed, as they would have laughed at one of those Saturday morning cartoons with the anvils and the shotgun blasts that just made the toons black and smoky and the gravity defying feats.

Whiffle Boy reached for a toy version of his mallet from the game, and attempted to whack Billy with it. Billy bounced away, cackling like a madman. Though the kids liked it the adults were getting nervous. Something inside them thought that this clown was acting a bit too goofy. There was something off about him, and they didn't like it.

Seeing that the adults were getting edgy, Robert walked over to the podium set up in front of the entrance to the Toy Museum. Beside him were two banners, one for Whiffle Boy Industries and one for Quackerjack Toys. The entrance to the new museum was impressive. Marble statues of classic toys led up to a pair of colorfully colored doors. The entire museum was also marble, but the marble was also colored brightly and the place shone. It had an air of both museum sophistication and happy toyishness. It was beautiful. It was wonderful.

"Today we celebrate one of the oldest and most important professions in the world, and the most overlooked. Though science and technology are crucial for the advancement of everyone on Earth, and though art and music are essential for the betterment of the spirit, the art of making toys is also important. For what better purpose can one have then to bring joy into the hearts of our young…"

While Robert gave his speech, a speech that Billy personally loved, Billy was busy running around playing with Whiffle Boy. His counterpart was not so happy or pleased with Billy's antics.

"I loathe you with great intensity." The actor mouthed at him.

"The feeling is mutual." Billy was smiling. It was not a nice smile.

All of a sudden, without warning, a pair of small missiles hid the podium that they all were standing on. Robert, as if warned by some latent instinct, just managed to jump out of the way, and even though it had been years since their father had made them to that vaudeville act thing, Robert was still extremely acrobatic. He landed on one knee, a few feet away from the now ruined podium. Billy totally forgot about Whiffle boy and rushed to his brother's side.

"Hahahahahaha! Little more lively then you dipshit father, eh knob?" A figure on the roof of the one the buildings laughed. The figure leaped off the roof, using the Whiffle Boy banner to swing to the ground. "I'm going to have to fix that."

As soon as Negaduck showed his face, the crowd scattered, parents scooping up children and running to the safety of anywhere but here. Whiffle Boy fled, never looking back.

Robert got to his feet, his eyes alight with anger "So, you are Negaduck. Should I bring out the rest of the clowns to this circus? Maybe a few elephants and camels? A Tilt-a-Whirl?"

Negaduck laughed "Nice. Do you talk to your hired nutjob that way as well?" Negaduck pointed his missile launcher at Billy. "Oh, I forgot. You didn't hire him. You just let your little brother play dress up. What's the matter? Can't keep him in his cage?"

"Keep away from him." Robert snarled and jumped in front of his brother and charged. Negaduck, who had not expected a CEO to indulge in fisticuffs, dropped the missile launcher. He couldn't use it in close quarters. He was reaching for a gun strapped to his belt when Robert threw a punch at him. To Negaduck's surprise the man was actually holding his hands in front of his face, palms facing him, as if he actually knew what he was doing. Robert jabbed at Negaduck's face, forcing him to back up. Robert kept swinging, this time using a haymaker, which landed on Negaduck's beak. Blood flew into the air. Negaduck reeled back as the punch hit him, and then gasped as Robert hit him three more times.

_Where the hell did this knob learn to fight?_ Negaduck thought as he rolled away. Apparently Robert did know what he was doing. That was annoying.

"Yes yes yes! Get em Bobby! It's plaaaaaaaaaaytime, Negaduck!" Billy rushed over, tossing several marbles at Negaduck, who at first laughed at the idiocy of this, until the marbles exploded, spreading smoke all around.

Negaduck used this to his advantage. He ran out the other end of the smoke. Circling around the wreckage of the podium he leaped and ended up on top of it, flanking the two brothers.

"Word to the wise, knobs. I hate clowns!" Negaduck finally got his pistol out. He aimed and fired two rounds straight at Billy's head.

Billy had just enough time to whirl around and stare down the barrel of the gun. He wondered briefly how much this was going to hurt, when he felt someone push him to the side. The first bullet whizzed between their heads, but the second…

Billy fell to the ground. He could see everything. The bullet seemed to slow as stuck his brother in the head and went straight through. Robert fell right beside Billy, and Billy could see the inside of his brother's brain.

Robert turned his head to Billy and whispered "Billy…Sorry."

"Robert…" Billy whispered, his voice couldn't seem to find itself.

_He's gone._

_No._

_Yes._

_NO._

_Kill him._

_Who?_

_Negaduck, kill him. He killed Bobby. Make him pay. Spill his blood. Negaduck is no innocent._

"Yes…boss."

"Ahahaha! Two down, one to go! How does it feel, clown? Happy that I killed your daddy and you big brother?"

"Ah…ahaha." Billy got up.

"What are laughing at?" Negaduck was enraged. People weren't supposed to laugh when he killed their brother right in front of their eyes!

"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! I'm gonna bury a hatchet in your head! Ahahahahahahaha!" Billy turned and lunged for Negaduck, who now was slightly freaked out.

"And they say I'm insane…" Negaduck grinned wickedly as the clown charged. He leaned down and picked up an iron bar and swung it. Billy, blinded by rage and the voice in his head, ran right into it. He fell again, and Negaduck swung again, breaking Billy's arm. As the crazed duck fell, Negaduck continued the assault, smashing his ribs, his shoulder, his leg. All the while Billy laughed, not able to help himself.

"STOP LAUGHING!"

Negaduck didn't understand. Billy wished he could stop. He couldn't. He just. He just. He couldn't.

_Is this what the deep end feels like, Billy?_

The bar finally stopped. Billy watched, detached and unemotional, as Negaduck leaned forwards and whispered in his ear.

"I don't think I care if you die now. Even if you live, you have no one. Your home is burning right now, by the way. So are your offices, and your factories. Your company is dead. I killed it, and there is nothing you can do. Who's going to take in a mad clown? Enjoy the streets, knob."

Negaduck reached into his suit and pulled out a remote with a large red button. He pressed it, and Billy heard an explosion. A random lucid thought told him it was the museum exploding.

The last thing he heard before falling unconscious was the sound of a dream falling to the ground in pieces.

* * *

><p><em>You can't be Billy anymore.<em>

_I'm William._

_No, he's dead. Just like Bobby. They both went poof. They're with Daddy._

_Yes…Yes. With Daddy._

_What's your name?_

_I'm Nobody._

_Everyone has to be somebody._

_Then I'm a clown._

_You have a name?_

_I'm Quackerjack. Who are you?_

_I'm who you need me to be._

_…you're Mr. Banana Brain._

_As you wish, Quackerjack._

* * *

><p>"How long has he been like this?"<p>

"Ever since the attack. He won't let us take away the hat, or the puppet." The doctor sighed. "He's had a psychotic break. He thinks that banana puppet is real. He talks to it all the time. He also won't respond to his real name. You have to call him Quackerjack or you won't get anywhere with him."

"Any living relatives?"

"Not anymore. I can't keep him in the hospital. He's psychically fine, but we can't let him out in public. He could hurt someone."

"It's alright. I knew his father. We can take care of him…"

* * *

><p>Deep inside Quackerjack knew the nice people at the St. Canard Asylum were trying to help him. He realized that. That didn't change the fact that they were wrong. Negaduck was out there, hurting people like he hurt Bobby and Daddy. That had to stop. Quackerjack wanted to stop him. He would, but the doctors wouldn't let him out. Apparently they thought he was a danger to himself, and a danger to others. That wasn't true; Quackerjack wasn't a danger to anyone, unless that someone was Negaduck.<p>

He couldn't tell long he had been here. He had to admit that had been his own fault. He probably shouldn't have punched that one orderly, but he had tried to take Quackerjack's hat away. Ever since they let him keep the hat, but they had also used something odd in a syringe on him. It made him feel sleepy. He didn't like it.

He did know that the room he was currently locked in was intolerable. Oh yes it was nice enough. Very clean and bright, with a nice widow that let in a lot of sunlight. The problem was the bars. Quackerjack hated the bars and the fact that the door was big heavy and always locked. He hated the fact that he couldn't get out. He couldn't make any toys here. They wouldn't let him have anything more complicated than a spoon. Yes they had put him in a nice cage, but it was a cage nonetheless.

The mental institution was not really bad, save for the boredom it induced. There were no lobotomies or electroshock or primitive experiments. It was all very nice and controlled and aimed to help crazy people get past their crazy tendencies. Now, the facility itself was not the problem. The problem was that Negaduck was out there, and Quackerjack was stuck in here. He wouldn't have minded staying if Negaduck wasn't loose out there.

"Hey, you got a visitor." The orderly, not the one that Quackerjack had socked, thank goodness, poked his head in the little barred window on Quackerjack's cell door. Quackerjack just stared at him. What?

"I didn't invite anyone, did you Mr. Banana Brain?" Quackerjack asked the doll.

"No, I didn't."

"It's someone from the government." The orderly said. He had gotten used to Quackerjack talking to Mr. Banana Brain. After a while it stopped being scary and started to be a little endearing.

"Ohhh, government!" Quackerjack laughed as the man walked in. Quackerjack eyed the man up and down. He was a large rooster, wearing a white suit. Instead of a normal beak he had one made out of steel. It was odd, but very intimidating looking at the same time.

Quackerjack laughed again. "I thought you guys were supposed to be men in black?"

The agent smiled "I prefer white. The name's Agent Steelbeak. You're Quackerjack, right?"

Quackerjack stopped laughed for a bit, though he did keep grinning. "You're the first person to use my name."

Steelbeak smiled "Ah. Let's just say I like self made men."

Quackerjack smiled "Okay. What do you want?"

"Let's just say my agency has been watching you. You're a real madman, babe, but you might still be useful to us."

"Useful." Quackerjack's eyes narrowed.

"Oh, don't be that way." Steelbeak said as he watched Quackerjack's expression turn hostile. "You want to get rid of Negaduck. We want to get rid of Negaduck. We got the same goals. I can get you out of here, but you got to work for us."

"…You want my toys, don't you?"

Steelbeak's smile widened "They do have nice military applications." Steelbeak reached into his white coat and pulled out Quackerjack's old notebook and tossed it lightly to him. "I especially like the teddy bear."

Quackerjack took his notebook. He stared down at it, then back to Steelbeak. "What do you want from me?"

"I want the same thing you want. I want Negaduck off the streets."

"Sounds fun." Quackerjack laughed.

* * *

><p>Quackerjack didn't know that it would be so easy to just walk out of an insane asylum. But, when you were working with the government, he guessed anything was easy. He just walked out, lead by Steelbeak and a few of his odd armored agents. They were called Eggmen, or something like that. Quackerjack thought they looked extremely funny.<p>

However, by the time they reached the parking lot, Quackerjack was having second thoughts about this. There just something eerie about the Eggmen, and something really off about this Steelbeak. He smiled too much, and not for the right reasons. And here Quackerjack was, out in the open. No more orderlies with needles or concerned looking doctors.

Why would he want to go with these guys anyway? This wasn't right. It felt wrong. And Quackerjack was starting to listen to his feelings more and more.

"You know what, I changed my mind. Gotta go, bye." Quackerjack suddenly turned, shook Steelbeacks hand and bolted for the tree line. He expected to be followed, but when he turned to look back Steelbeak was just standing there, grinning at him.

Quackerjack laughed at him and dove for the trees. He didn't look back again.

"Are we really letting him go?" One of the Eggmen turned to Steelbeak, who kept a smile on his face.

"Yeah. He may not be officially working for us, but he'll still be doing our job. Why do you think I let Megavolt run around loose like that?" Steelbeak turned to his limo with a grin. "After all, it doesn't pay to all your Eggmen in on basket." Steelbeak laughed as he got in his limo. He'd have to watch Quackerjack from now on, but that was alright. He was good at watching.

* * *

><p>The jewelry store was dark and abandoned, just what you would expect at midnight. Two figures slunk towards the big window display from across the street. One of them had a brick in his hand.<p>

"Okay, we got five minutes, tops. Maybe less if that electric rat is around. Just grab and go."

The other robber nodded "Yeah, go!"

The brick flew through the window, and the two crooks leaped in and started to scoop up necklaces and rings and bracelets.

"Okay, let's run."

"Just a few more…"

"Ahahahahaha." Someone, not either of the robbers, laughed.

"Ummm, who was that?" The brick thrower asked.

"Robbing people? That's not playing nice." The voice said.

"Is it Megavolt?" One of the robbers asked in a frightened tone. He was scared of the rat, mostly because of the fact that the heard that Megavolt really did have powers. That was pretty scary.

"Hahahahaha, ah, no!"

The man that bounced into their view from where he had been hiding made the robbers laugh in derision. It was just a clown! Not an electrified superhero, but a clown! This was going to be easy.

"Hey boys, It's plaaaaaytime!" Quackerjack said with a goofy smile. He pulled out four clacking teeth and lobbed them at the criminals. The teeth snapped at the crooks, nipping at their arms and legs. One of them landed on the brick thrower's snout and clamped firmly on his nose. The crook howled and jumped around, trying to bat the teeth of his nose.

The other crook snarled and pulled out a baseball bat. He charged, swinging at Quackerjack. The jester back flipped out of the way and pulled out a hula hoop. He tossed it over the crook's head. The hoop swing the crook around at ludicrous speeds for a about five seconds. It was enough to make the crook fall to the ground, dizzy.

"Oh, and I thought I'd get more of a fight out of this." Quackerjack grinned at the two of them.

"What…what the hell?"

Quackerjack turned and grinned. "Ah! Megavolt." He leaped over to the rat, who drew his electricity gun. Megavolt had no idea who this strange duck was, but he wasn't going to take chances.

"Who do you work for, clown? Negaduck?" Megavolt never knew who worked for Negaduck and who didn't these days. He was getting a little on the paranoid side.

"What! I hate Negaduck! He doesn't play fair, does he Mr. Banana Brian?" Quackerjack pulled out the toy banana. Megavolt and the crooks stared at Quackerjack with similar terrified expressions. This was getting a bit strange.

"Ummm, okay." Megavolt backed away. He didn't think he wanted anything more to do with this crazed duck. He was convinced that this clown had nothing to do with Negaduck. Negaduck wasn't this off the wall.

"Hey, wait, you're in my occupation!" Quackerjack jumped back over to the retreating rat. Megavolt backed away even faster.

"What are you talking about, you loon?" Megavolt said as he edged towards the nearest telephone pole.

"You put away crooks, I put away crooks. Come on, we can have fun together!"

Megavolt finally realized what Quackerjack was talking about "Umm, thanks by no thanks. I work alone."

"Aww, come on, Mr. Banana Brain likes you!"

"Umm, yeah. Sorry, but…I like my space, you know?" Megavolt placed a hand on the telephone pole.

"Ahahahahaa, you mean like outer space?"

"Ummm, no. Space without you in it." Megavolt said. _Especially not with you in it._ He thought. He quickly scaled the telephone pole and skated away, never looking back.

Quackerjack stared as Megavolt fled. He shrugged. The sound of sirens filled the air as the police finally started to show up.

"Ah well, looks like playtime's over." Quackerjack shrugged and pulled out a pogo stick. He happily bounced away, leaving behind two very traumatized criminals in his wake.

* * *

><p>A few blocks away a limo was parked. Steelbeak grinned at the screen in front of him. "Shame the two of them aren't working for us. Oh well. It's still nice seeing people cleaning up the streets."<p>

"Agent Steelbeak. We need to you to help us investigate something."

"Ah." Steelbeak punched a button on the bottom of his monitor screen "What's up?"

"It's at the St. Canard University. Something about a mutant. A plant duck. Some sort of rampage."

"Ah, no rest for the weary. Alright." Steelbeak said as he snapped off the monitor. He nodded at his driver, who pulled out of the parking lot they were hovering in and started towards the university, where even now a terrified lab experiment was fleeing for his planty life.


	4. Bushroot

An Author's Note: In the episode Night of the Living Spud they call Bushroot's scientific plant name Lycium nycanthropus, which one google search later came up with an article on the Wonderful World of Wiki as Boxthorn, apparently a kind of nightshade. So no, I didn't pull some of the out of thin air…I just google searched. Not the best research method, but then again we are dealing with the mirror verse of a cartoon universe with talking anthropomorphic ducks. So, yeah, I'm not that worried. This is a fanfic, after all, not a dissertation.

I also deeply suspect that Lycium nycanthropus translates to something like: were-plant-duck-thing.

Bushroot

Reginald Bushroot smiled down at the daisy plant and gave it a nice sprinkling of water. He gently checked the leaves for any signs of brown. Overall the plant seemed to be healthy. Reggie nodded to himself and wrote down his observations on the chart next to the daisy.

"Hey Reggie, are you gonna hurry up and finish that?" Dr. Larson grinned as he passed by Reggie. "You'll miss all the fun, you know?"

"Oh, I know, but Dr. Dendron would have my hide if I skimped on this work."

"Not like she can do her own damn calculations." Dr. Gary said as he walked over to the other two. "But then again, that's technically your project, Reggie. We all know she stole it from you!"

"Aww, I don't mind. Besides, this project could help everyone! Who cares who gets the credit as long as we're helping people?" Reggie smiled as his two friends.

"…hmmm naw." Dr. Gary grinned "I think I like the money! I mean, what else can do with my time?"

Reggie laughed and shook his head "You could buy a personality!"

The three of them laughed as Reggie watered yet another plant. True, it had been his idea to create a formula that could give plantlike qualities to animals. Qualities like photosynthesis. It would help solve hunger crises around the world. Of course, Dr. Gary and Dr. Larson's work with enlarging foods could also work, but that was just one solution to a problem. Yes, the formula had been Reggie's idea, but it was Dr. Rhoda Dendron who was profiting from it. She had been the one to take the idea to Dean Tightbill, and it had been her that was in charge of the experiment, even though Reggie was the one doing all the work. Both Dr. Gary and Dr. Larson had expressed their disapproval with this, and if Reggie had possessed a shred more ambition or a bit more inclination towards pride he would have objected as well.

But the fact was that he didn't have that much ambition. He was happy just taking care of plants, doing research, and hanging out with his friends. He could have been able achieve a PhD, but he was content with his Masters. Had his social skills been left underdeveloped he no doubt wouldn't have gotten along as well as he did with others, but while he was something of a nerd he did have the ability to get along well with other intellectually minded people. And while Dr. Gary and Dr. Larson made no secret of the fact that they wanted their project to succeed mostly because of the money it would provide them, they were not particularly immoral or greedy. Their research would do a lot of good, and if they happened to profit from it, that was fine. Besides that, they were good friends, and Reggie could forgive a little greed.

Now, what he couldn't forgive…

"What are you doing? What have I told you about chatting on the job?" A banshee shriek emitted from the direction of the door.

"Oh shit, here comes the Dragon Lady." Dr. Larson grumbled.

Dr. Rhoda Dendron was beautiful, but she was also very harsh and cruel. You wouldn't expect a scientist to be as nasty as she was, but she was indeed one of the meanest individuals in the entire university. She was ambitious and driven, but not quite intelligent enough to come up with the big ideas. The ideas that would make her rich. Now, normally Reggie wouldn't care about her ambitions, but he did care about fair play.

As a lab assistant he usually spent more time around the labs then the actual professors, and he had noticed something odd. Whenever Dendron had left a lab there would always been a little something wrong with the lab. Sometimes a Bunsen burner would be up to high. Sometimes a vital piece of equipment was missing. While Reggie had no proof, he was becoming very suspicious of his boss.

"I'm almost done! Take a look." Too excited about the plants to be to upset with the irate woman in front of him, Reggie grabbed a chart and pointed to it. "These Lycium seem to have the greatest concentration of the enzyme. If you take the essence of the Lycium and infuse it with animal tissue, it might cause the effect we're looking for…or it could kill you."

"Hmmm." Dr. Dendron looked over at the thorny plants that Reggie was indicating. "Fine. Concentrate on them. Get rid of the rest of this trash." She turned and stalked away.

Reggie sighed as she left. "Trash the poor plants? What a waste! I can't just trash them! Besides, I'm really getting to like the experimental spud! It's cute."

"Daww, did you find a new girlfriend?" Dr. Larson chuckled.

"Yeah, right. Watch out, Larry, it'll suck out all your blood!" Reggie gently picked up his spud and shook it at the doctor in a playful way.

"Ahh! Evil russet!" Dr. Gary laughed.

"We'll help you get the other plants loaded. Then we need to go to the bar. The game's gonna come on in thirty minutes!" Dr. Larson grabbed a rather sad looking rose and started to cart it to the door.

"Yeah, bring your girlfriend, Reggie." Dr. Gary grinned and picked up a geranium.

Reggie smiled and picked up the spud. It really was a cute spud. He thought he'd plant it. Everyone liked potatoes. He could make his own fries!

He was just loading the last plant in his truck when he looked up at the university and saw a strange figure moving about one of the labs. It looked almost like Rhoda Dendron, or at least a female form.

"Hey guys, I'll meet you at the bar later, okay? I got something I want to check." Reggie said.

"Are you sure, Reggie?"

"Yeah, I'm sure."

Dr. Gary and Dr. Larson shrugged and got in their car. They drove off, leaving Reggie totally alone in the deserted parking lot. He quietly snuck back into the university and silently climbed the stairs to the third floor. He snuck over to the door to the lab that his two friends worked in and peeked in.

Dr. Dendron was standing the middle of the room, stuffing files into a shredder. He gasped a bit when he realized that his suspicions about her were correct. She was trying to cheat the other researchers out of their hard work.

As if she had heard him Dr. Dendron whirled around, and Reggie quickly ducked. Knowing that she would probably investigate he snuck backwards until he reached the stairs and crawled down them, softly but swiftly. He heard the door to the lab open.

"Whose there?" Dr. Dendron's voice echoed through the halls.

Reggie gulped and kept slithering down the stairs, a bit faster this time. He made it to the bottom floor and to the parking lot. He crept to his truck and started it, driving away.

Above him, in the lab window, Dr. Dendron was glaring at him with hate filled eyes.

* * *

><p>"Arm! Arm!"<p>

"Spine! Spine!"

"You always pick the spine, Larry!"

"That's because they crash into each other headfirst!"

"Damn." Dr. Garry muttered as the football player on the screen collided headfirst into another player. "Yep, that'll be spinal damage."

"And that's three points for me." Dr. Larson said as he added another point to his score.

Perhaps it was because they had been teased in high school by jocks. Maybe they felt a bit of schadenfreude. Perhaps it was a bit of both. Whatever the reason, their favorite game to play in a bar was the Football Injury Guessing Game. Whoever was the closest to guess the injury got a point. Sure they didn't actually know if the players really did get hurt, but they usually awarded themselves the points anyway, just because they like to imagine the horrible injuries. Usually Reggie would join them, if only to laugh at them and drink. He lived only a few blocks from this bar, so driving was not a problem for him. He just had to turn a corner. Besides, while he did drink, he didn't really get drunk. He had one, and then switched to some sort of soda.

"Hey Reggie! You look a bit upset! You okay man?" The bartender, a large red fox named Quincy, looked up as Reggie came in. Reggie did look a bit shocked. He was pale and shaking as he walked up to the bar where Dr. Gary and Dr. Larson were seated. He sat down and nodded at Quincy, but said nothing.

Quincy cocked his head and nodded. He pulled out a glass and filled it up with Reggie's usual and handed it to him. Reggie sat down and stared at the drink.

"Hey, Reggie, is something wrong?" Dr. Larson asked.

Reggie's eyes slide to the friendly neighborhood bartender. Quincy, who knew when to scoot and give people their privacy, suddenly had the urge to fill up the little glasses with the peanuts at the other end of the bar. He ambled over and slowly filled peanut glasses, not even looking at the three scientists who were his most quiet and least troublesome customers. You didn't usually get nice polite customers like them, and he wasn't going to threaten that by being noisy.

"You guys," Reggie muttered to his two friends. "I saw Dr. Dendron in your lab. She was shredding some of your files!"

"What! That witch!" Dr. Larson growled.

"I told you she would do something like that." Dr. Garry chuckled. "To bad she doesn't know that I've copied all of it! Got the copies in a file at home, where she can't get them. For a scientist she's pretty dumb."

"Still, who knows what else she might be doing in there! She could be sabotaging your equipment or something. She could ruin you guys!" Reggie said.

"Don't worry." Dr. Gary grinned. "You're not the only one who suspects her. So does Tightbill. I know that a few others have gone to him with complaints. You could be another witness! We can go to him tomorrow, and he'll have to listen."

Reggie sighed. He knew that Dr. Dendron had to be stopped, even if that meant killing the project he was partly responsible for. Oh well. That's just the way things happened. Hopefully, Dr. Larson and Dr. Gary would have better luck.

"I'll do it. Go to him tomorrow." Reggie said. Though his words were strong his hand was still shaking.

* * *

><p>"Are you sure about this?" Dean Tightbill looked Reggie over with some concern. The older duck wasn't a fan of Dr. Dendron, as he thought of her as pushy and far to full of herself. The rumors about her were even less savory, especially when he had heard that the idea for the photosynthesis serum was actually Reginald Bushroot's idea. Tightbill was a botanist himself, and had encouraged Reggie's progress through the college. He had been annoyed that Reggie hadn't wanted to continue on towards a doctorate, as he was sure the brilliant duck could have easily become Dr. Bushroot if he had made the attempt. But he hadn't, and had even stepped back and let Dr. Dendron take over the project that should have been his.<p>

"I'm positive. Sir, you have to do something. Dr. Gary and Dr. Larson's work is just as important as ours, after all."

Tightbill frowned. "I don't agree. To be honest I think those two are full of hot air, just like those repulsive floating burgers of theirs. However, I can't allow fraud to happen in my university. You aren't the first to come to me with complaints about that woman. It's time I did something."

Reggie followed as Tightbill marched to the labs. Reggie felt exceedingly nervous. In fact he felt like vines were growing in his stomach and wiggling around in there. He was a bit terrified of Dr. Dendron. She had a very loud voice.

Tightbill, however, wasn't going to be intimidated by anyone or anything. He marched into the lab with all the fury of a small tornado. Dr. Dendron turned with a sneer on her face, but that sneer disappeared when she saw the dean.

"So, Doctor." Tightbill gave her a hard look. "How is that project coming along?"

Dr. Dendron stammered "Umm, well we've narrowed down our options to one plant that has the highest dose of the needed enzyme. All that we need to do is isolate it and start testing it."

Tightbill nodded grimily. "That's too bad. Dr. Dendron, for three weeks I've been getting complaints about you. Complaints that you've been sabotaging other's work."

"You have no proof!" She screeched.

"I have a witness." Tightbill nodded at Reggie. "As well as others willing to collaborate with his story."

Dr. Dendron sneered at Reggie. "You fool! I was willing to share a small bit of the limelight with you, but you had to go and ruin it!"

Reggie shook his head. "I wanted this project to succeed, after all it was mine in the first place, but what you are doing is wrong. You took something that was supposed to be for everyone and made it all about you and-"

"Shut up you whining, cringing little pacifist freak!" Dr. Dendron shrieked. "I've had enough of your prattling!" To everyone surprise she picked up a heavy Bunsen burner and lobbed it at Reggie's head. Reggie ducked, now scared to death. The Bunsen burner smashed into the chess playing toaster head robot in the corner of the room. The robot began to emit a terrible metallic scream and jerked to its feet. Still screaming it stumbled around the room, breaking things until it collapsed on the ground, smoking and destroyed.

"Get out of my university! Now!" Tightbill bellowed. "Get out and never come back!"

Reggie could have sworn he saw a little cloud of steam emit from Dr. Dendron's ears, but that could have just been imagination. She glared directly at Reggie as she stomped out of the lab. As she passed him Reggie could have sworn she muttered "I'll get you for this, Bushroot."

Reggie was shaking a little after she had stormed out. He barely noticed that Tightbill was giving him a considering look. "Now, even though I know it might cost this fine institution a bit more then I had planned….perhaps you could take over this project in place of Dr. Dendron?" He was staring directly at Reggie when he said this.

"I…I'd hate for it to go all to waste." Reggie said with a small smile. At Tightbill's nod he went over to the plants and began to examine the charts, deciding how he would proceed.

If he was lucky, he would be ready to try it out on something living tonight.

* * *

><p>By the time Dr. Dendron had gotten to her home she was shaking, not just with rage, but with fright. If he found out about this, that she'd lost her job and her access to that serum…<p>

She shuddered. Why did she borrow that money? Couldn't she have waited a bit? Her greed had gotten her into this mess, and if he found out that-

She gasped as someone pushed her roughly into her apartment. She stumbled forwards and nearly tripped over her own rug. She heard the door slam behind her. She turned around and gasped. How did he find out so quickly?

"Hey doc." Negaduck grinned at her evilly.

"What's up?" The thug that had entered her apartment with Negaduck, obviously some sort of hired muscle, was also grinning. His grin faded a bit when Negaduck reached up and punched him in the face.

"Don't make lame jokes, Launchpad." Negaduck sneered. The thug shut up. He was a really ugly, muscle-bound thing, whose expression was that a rock that had just been smashed by a hammer. He was the kind of person that Dr. Dendron normally turned her well formed nose up on sight, but the fact that there was a crime boss looming in her apartment was a bit more worrying at the moment.

"Quite a place you got here." Negaduck strolled around with a faux impressed tone. "I especially like the new television and the Persian rug. Tell me, missy, was it my money that bought that rug?" Negaduck smiled at her with all the pleasantness of a shark. "Because if it was, I do hope you've enjoyed it, because I've come to collect."

"I…I…" Dr. Dendron started to back away from Negaduck, only to bump into Launchpad, who was grinning and cracking his knuckles.

"You know, it amazes me how many people don't understand the basic function of a loan." Negaduck said. "I mean, I give you money, you pay me back later with interest, now is that really so hard?" Negaduck picked up a crystal unicorn figure and played with it, tossing it lightly from one hand to the other.

"I know how a loan works!" Dr. Dendron snarled.

"Then you should know to pay up!" Negaduck hurled the unicorn into the wall, missing Dr. Dendron's head by a millimeter. "Now, unless I start seeing some green papers, I'm going to get a wee bit annoyed. You don't want that to happen. Not unless you want to become road pizza!"

"I don't have any money, I was fired today!" Dr. Dendron gasped as Launchpad gripped her by the shoulders and started to drag her to the window, intent on hurling her out. "Wait, stop!"

"Sorry, but it's pizza time. I so love pizza, don't you?" Negaduck grinned.

"No, wait, I know a way to pay you back! I just need to get my hands on that serum!" Dr. Dendron's eyes widened as Launchpad pushed her towards the edge.

Negaduck help up his hand to Launchpad, who sneered a bit, but stopped.

"What are you babbling on about." Negaduck asked.

"The project I was working on. It's a serum that can give living things plantlike abilities. Particularly photosynthesis."

"What would we want with a better camera?" Launchpad snarled.

"Not photography, twit. It's the ability to get nourishment through sunlight. Plants do it." Negaduck said. "And how would this pay me back?"

"Surely a well connected man like yourself knows people who can make use of such a serum?" Dr. Dendron said, hoping that this would save her life.

Negaduck frowned a bit. He really wanted to toss her out the window, but this serum thing sounded interesting enough to hold up on the pizza option. Still, he didn't trust Dr. Dendron.

"How do I know this will work?" Negaduck asked. "After all, you just said you're not working on it anymore, anyway."

"Bushroot. They'll have given that project to that incompetent slacker! If I can sneak in tonight I can get the formula and the test subject as well."

Negaduck grinned. "Aww, how unethical. Use your coworker as a guinea pig? I like it. But, just to make sure there are no…accidents, I had better go with you. Wouldn't want to miss any pizza opportunities. I do so love pizza."

Dr. Dendron gulped as Negaduck settled back into her couch with a nasty expression on his face. Tonight wouldn't come soon enough for her.

* * *

><p>"Yes! It's ready!" Reggie danced a bit as his finished the device that would extract the enzyme from the plant and transfer it to an animal. It had taken him all evening, and it was nearing ten o'clock, but he was done. Finally done!<p>

"Great, now can we go?" Dr. Larson grumbled. Reggie's two friends had waited for him to finish his work, but were getting very bored. They wanted to go home.

"Just give me a second to get this mouse in the machine…" Reggie scooped up a lab mouse, a non-sentient mouse, and walked over to the very Frankenstein like machine. He had already strapped in a nice shrub to the device. "All it needs is a little electricity to fuse the plant cells and the animal cells, and we'll have success!"

"Great, Plantmouse." Dr. Gary chuckled.

"Ack!" Reggie yelped as the terrified mouse snapped at his finger. With a mighty wiggle the mouse was out of there, dodging away with a determined squeak. Before anyone could catch it the mouse slipped into a crack in the wall, and was gone. None of the ducks could follow it, but the mouse did come in contact with a small toy motorcycle in that hole. Unfortunately it didn't know what to do with it. It wasn't a very clever mouse.

"Oh man, at that was the last lab mouse!" Reggie groaned.

"You might have to buy another from the pet store, or something." Dr. Larson said as he eyed the hole. "We'll never see that squeaker again!"

"Or, one of you can volunteer." A sinister voice said with a chuckle. "Care to raise your hands, kiddies?"

"What the…you're Negaduck!" Reggie turned and gaped at the crime lord that was currently strolling into his lab, gun in hand and chainsaw visible, strapped to his belt like a gun. Behind the villainous duck lumbered Launchpad, and right behind him scurried Dr. Dendron.

"Oh, observant egghead. Great. Now get on the table knob." Negaduck grinned. "Unless you want to see your friends here with Swiss cheese for brains." Negaduck laughed and pulled the trigger. The bullet smashed into Dr. Larson's kneecap. He fell to the ground with a terrible squealing noise, a sound filled with pain and surprise.

"Stop! Don't!" Reggie jumped in front of his two friends, terrified, but more scared of seeing them dead.

"Get on the table, then. You get to be the lab rat tonight. Either that, or…" Negaduck cocked his gun, and Reggie scrambled to the table and climbed on.

"Launchpad, watch those two. They do anything, you know what to do. Doc, get to work before I get bored." Negaduck snapped at the two behind him.

Reggie glared at Dr. Dendron as she came over and attached the device meant to hold a mouse over his arm. "How could you do this?"

"It's either you or me, Bushroot. Way I figure it, it should be you." Dr. Dendron couldn't look at him, but she didn't hesitate in her work. She finished connecting him to the machine and walked over to the switch next to the machine. She gave Reggie one last long look, then she turned the switch.

Reggie's followed the progress of the green liquid that flowed from the poor plant, up the tube connecting them and finally reached his arm. He winched as the needle inside the tube broke his skin and injected the plant's essence right into him. The electricity powering the device sparked and shot around. Reggie's eyes bugged as pain shot through his body.

For a brief moment he thought he heard a terrible wail in his mind. Something was dying.

Was it him? It might have been. He felt himself fading. Something was…different. He could see green everywhere. The green of trees and shrubs and vegetables. It was beautiful. Things brushed at the corner of his mind. He heard the wind playing across the oaks outside. Heard living things running the grass. No, no wait. He wasn't hearing this. He was feeling it. I was a part of him now. He didn't know how, but it was.

The feelings lasted only a moment, and then he blacked out. He didn't remember anything more.

Negaduck frowned as the machine whirled to a stop. "Well, did it work?"

"I don't know." Dr. Dendron frowned. "He doesn't look any different. The only way we could know for sure was if we got some sunlight."

"Launchpad, do you like gravel or concert with your road pizza?" Negaduck said casually.

"Gravel. More lumpy." Launchpad said.

"Wait wait! Let me try something!" Dr. Dendron said.

"You have five minutes. After that, I want my dinner, if you know what I mean."

Dr. Dendron pushed a sunlamp over from where it had been set up to nurture the little plants. She pointed it over Reggie and flipped the switch. "If it worked, this should have some effect."

She turned the lamp on. It shone brightly on Reggie, but did nothing that Negaduck or Launchpad could see.

"Hmmm, looks like a dud to me." Negaduck said.

"No, wait, please. Give me some time! I can fix it, I swear!" Dr. Dendron started to back away, blubbering and pleading for her life.

"I'm bored now. Toss her Launchpad." Negaduck said.

"Yes sir." Launchpad grinned and grabbed Dr. Dendron's wrist. She screeched and fought, clawing at the big thug with her manicured nails, but all that did was chip her paint. Launchpad didn't even feel it. He smiled as he dragged her towards the window. With no effort he grabbed her waist. With a mighty heave he tossed off the third floor window, through the window.

Dr. Dendron 's terrified scream was cut off abruptly as she met the ground. Negaduck peered over the edge and smiled at the sight of the broken body. He would go get what was owed to him from looting her home and selling her stuff on the black market. He had done this before.

Dr. Larson and Dr. Gary were hugging each other, hoping that if they stayed very very quiet, Negaduck would forget about them.

"Hey, boss, this nerd is turning green!" Launchpad pointed at Reggie, who was still unconscious. It was true, his hands were turning green.

Negaduck walked over and watched as Reggie's hands became a light green. His eyes widened a bit as the scientist's hands started to flatten and take on the appearance of leaves. The rest of Reggie was turning green as well, and a tuft of purple…stuff burst out of his head.

"Huh, he's turning into a plant." Negaduck grunted. "That harpy was right after all."

"Do we waste him?" Launchpad asked.

"Hmmm, no." With a casual flick of his hand, Negaduck pointed his gun as the two quivering researchers and shot two times, capping both of them in their heads with all the air of one turning on the television. Launchpad didn't even blink as the two dead bodies fell to the ground. "We got a good fall guy this time. Let's not waste him. Besides, with that machine we can make our own army of plant mutants!" Negaduck knew that anyone who actually investigated would find that someone had shot the two eggheads, but that would be a longer time coming when people were panicking over a plant monster. By the time those feds, feds like that annoying Steelbeak or "heroes' like the twice as annoying Megavolt found out the truth…well Negaduck would have his army!

"Get the machine, Launchpad, and let's go. A bit later we'll go to a nice floral shop…" Negaduck laughed as his thug picked up the machine with one arm and carried it out with them. They never looked back.

* * *

><p>Reggie groaned and opened his eyes. The first thing he saw was a light shining in his eyes. It almost blinded him. He groaned and rolled over, opening his eyes again. It was ten minutes to midnight. He slowly got up from the table, his head pounding and his eyes stinging.<p>

"Ow…what happened?" He muttered. "I feel so…so…I don't know how I feel" He looked over and gasped.

"No!" He rushed over to the bodies of his two friends. "No! Negaduck, you monster!" He reached to touch them, but gasped as finally noticed that his hands had become a pair of very thick leaves. "What? What did they do to me?"

He heard someone rushing up the stairs and down the hall towards the lab. Reggie turned as the door was thrown up and the night janitor burst into the room. The man's flashlight struck him and Reggie winched.

"AH! Monster!" The janitor screamed and slammed the door behind him.

"No! Wait!" Reggie ran after the man, trying to explain this to him. Unfortunately his new rootlike feet got covered with the blood of his two friends, and as he ran he left twisted, bloody footprints in his wake. The janitor turned, screamed again, and broke a fire extinguisher container on the wall. He turned the improvised weapon on Reggie and fired a cloud of foam at Reggie. Startled, Reggie jumped back. The man took the opportunity and fled.

"Wait!" Reggie held up a leaf to stop him, but the janitor was already charging down the stairs.

Reggie lowered his hand and sighed. He didn't know what to do. Here he was, his friends murdered, his work stolen, and oh yes, he was a vegetable now! Where exactly was one supposed to go when one was a vegetable?

_Anywhere but here! That janitor will call the cops! Do you really think they will listen to you more than that janitor did? _He thought. _But where can I go?_

_ Come to us, brother._

"Huh? What." It had not really been a voice, but his mind processed it as such. It was more like a feeling, like an instinct deep inside him. His mind wanted to translate it to words, but there were no words for such a feeling of…of…there were no words. It was like love, or acceptance, or belonging, but deeper than that. He could sort of recognize the emotions as ones he had felt for his family and friends. If he had never been exposed those kind of emotions; if he never had friends to compare the new feelings with they would have been incompressible to him.

_Come, we will shelter you._

Reggie looked around and noticed an elm tree at the window, its branches moved restlessly against the glass, as if trying to reach out towards him. There was absolutely no wind outside. Reggie should have been scared, but instead he felt calmed. Almost mesmerized, he walked over to the window. The tree leaned back and broke through the window. A branch reached out and gently scooped him up. He felt no fear. He knew, in his heart, that the tree had no intention of hurting him.

_Help you, little brother._ The tree said in Reggie's mind.

"Why? How can I understand you? I can hear you in my mind, but-"

_You are one of us, sapling. Worry not. The Green shelters its own, no matter what they do or what they were before. All life comes to us in the end._

"Hehehe, circle of life kind of thing, huh?" Reggie laughed. He could feel mild puzzlement coming from the tree, but then it faded to amusement. The tree shifted a bit on its roots and stood up, revealing the hole where its roots once gripped the earth. Gently the tree planted Reggie into the earth. The tree shifted back and covered Reggie with its roots. Soon, there was no evidence that a plant-duck had been there.

Reggie could feel the tree above him, and the roots all around him. He could feel the warm earth he had been planted in. Had he still been a duck he would have felt trapped, buried alive, and claustrophobic. But as he was now he felt comforted and warm and safe, like he was being held by his mother as a child. The earth was warm and good, and he couldn't help but love this.

"Still, as nice as this is, I should get moving. I don't want them to dig me up or something. Ah! My greenhouse! I'll go there! Thanks for helping me, Mr. Elm."

_Welcome._

As Reggie wiggled through the earth, using his roots to shift the dirt away, he had a feeling that welcome hadn't just been a response to his thanks, but an actual welcoming into a leafy, green family.

For a few seconds he wasn't so upset anymore.

* * *

><p>"It was horrible! A green monstrosity with a duck beak! It was covered with blood and looming over Dr. Gary and Dr. Larson!" The janitor babbled at Steelbeak with wide eyes.<p>

"Ah haaaa." Steelbeak said as he examined the bodies of the two deceased scientists in front of him. It had taken him a few minutes to get there, and he was starting to get annoyed with the janitor. How much stupid could you really fit into one head? "And plant monsters usually shot people with guns, right?"

"Er, maybe it was after their blood!"

"Yeah, maybe, which is why all this blood is around here?" Steelbeak grumbled as he stared at the man.

"Messy eater?" The janitor volunteered.

"Maybe, but I doubt it." Steelbeak said. Oh, it was not like he didn't think there had been a plant monster, or at least some kind of monster. The tracks of blood all around the place were unlike any he had ever seen, and his job for the feds had him coming up against some really strange stuff from time to time.

"Alright boys, I want those bullets taken to the lab and examined, as well as those prints. In the morning I'll talk to the people who knew the stiffs. Maybe they might have some insight on our plant monster." Steelbeak didn't know if the thing the janitor saw was a victim, an accomplice or a witness, but he was going to find out.

* * *

><p>Reggie made it back to his greenhouse, a place outside St. Canard where he could raise his beloved plants in seclusion and privacy. The moment he tunneled up from the hole he had dug he was assaulted by multiple voices from his plants, each whispering a welcome for him, and telling him how much they liked him. It was odd for Reggie, who although he liked the plants he didn't realize how much they liked him back. He knew most people saw plants as just things, like a rock or a chair, even though he knew that they were complex living organisms. Now, here was proof.<p>

For hours he simply wandered about his greenhouse, sensing everything his could from his friends. About noon he found himself getting tired and thirsty. As if summoned by this stray thought one of his daffodils grew larger and formed a kind of seat for him. He relaxed and another plant grabbed a water jug and poured some on the ground for him.

"Ah, thanks." He smiled and dipped his new roots into the puddle. He frowned when he noticed the bits of dried blood on his roots. "I…I forgot about them…how could I do that?" He shook his head. Being a plant was…odd. He felt that his brain was moving a bit slower. He wondered if all plants moved at a slow pace. It felt like it. The plants felt mildly concerned about him, but not inclined to get up and do things unless he specifically asked them to, or was too distressed to ask. Plants weren't big on the whole moving thing, and unless they had to they stayed put.

If he wasn't careful his mind would sink into the rhythms of a plant. He didn't want that to happen. He wasn't to upset about being a plant, not anymore. But he didn't' want to become inert either.

But what to do? What could he do? It wasn't like he could walk down the street: last night was proof of that. Besides that, the machine…the machine!

Reggie jumped up from his daffodil and started to pace around, talking aloud to his plants. "My machine wasn't there when I woke up! Negaduck must have taken it! Maybe Dr. Dendron as well! Who knows what he could be doing with it! Why, he could be making more plant mutants as we speak! He doesn't know about the plant telepathy, but he'll figure it out! I have to stop him, but how? Who knows what chaos a maniac like him will sew?"

_Little brother, here comes a rat._

"Here comes a wha-" Reggie turned just in time to see something yellow burst through the window of his greenhouse and roll. To Reggie's utter shock, Megavolt, who before now had only been a blurry picture in a newspaper to Reggie, lifted himself on one knee and pointed that zapping gun of his at Reggie's chest.

"Freeze, mutant." Megavolt said.

"What? How did you find me?" Reggie asked.

"Brilliant deductive reasoning."

Reggie stared at Megavolt with a disbelieving expression. Megavolt shrugged. "Okay, I've been peeking in greenhouses ever since I heard on the news about a mutant plant wreaking havoc. But that's the last havoc you are going to wreak!"

"Hahahaha, good thing I followed you! You find all the fun playmates!" To Reggie's utter shock a strange duck dressed as a clown poked his head into the hole that Megavolt made in his greenhouse wall and leaped in. Okay, it was a back flip.

"You! Are you following me?" Megavolt screamed at Quackerjack. The duck grinned.

"Maybe." Quackerjack sniggered.

"Okay, that's creepy! Stop being creepy, Quackerjack." Megavolt demanded.

"This has just become incredibly strange." Reggie said.

"Hahahaha! It's a talking veggie!" The clown laughed.

"Yeah, that's me." Reggie couldn't help but chuckle a bit "Reggie the Veggie."

"Hey idiot! Killer plant monster! Why are you laughing at it?" Megavolt shouted at Quackerjack.

"Hey, that's uncalled for! First off, I'm a he!" Reggie objected. "And I'm not a monster or a killer!"

"Enough!" Megavolt screeched and fired at Reggie, who instinctively bent his now flexible body to the side. Quackerjack laughed and tossed a pair of his clacking teeth at Reggie, intent on chomping the plant to mush. Reggie screamed as one of them bit into his arm and drew sticky green sap.

Then the plants intervened. Apparently they could be spurned into action when he was in distress. One of the grape vines slithered over and tangled itself around Megavolt's feet. With a yank the vine lifted him up off the ground. Megavolt hollered and shot lightning at the vines, but for each one that he burned another took its place.

Quackerjack bounded around the greenhouse, dodging thorns and pumpkins and other assorted plant life. He leaped over to Reggie and tried to kick him, but an annoyed flytrap snapped at his ankle and bit down. It was a large flytrap, but still small and somewhat delicate. Quackerjack kicked at the thing and attempted to stomp it. All the while Reggie heard a strange grumbling noise in the back of his head, like a loyal bulldog coming to the aid of his master. Reggie realized it was the flytrap. He also realized the loyal thing was about to be crushed.

_Oh no, if only it were bigger!_ He thought as he reached for the imperiled plant. To his astonishment the little flytrap grew in size until it was taller than Reggie. It let go of the leg it had, and Quackerjack jumped away with a slightly puzzled look on his face. That puzzled look disappeared when the flytrap lunged forwards and snapped him up.

"Ah! Don't hurt him!" Reggie said. The flytrap looked at him like he was crazy, but it didn't chew or swallow. Reggie took a moment to collect himself.

Megavolt was glaring at Reggie as the vines held him, making sure he didn't do anything. It was clear that he was ready to fry Reggie at the next opportunity. The rather annoyed sounds coming from Reggie's flytrap indicated that Quackerjack was not pleased either.

"Now." Reggie said. "Let's all just calm down and talk about this. I didn't kill anyone, Negaduck did."

"Negaduck!" The two chorused in almost perfect unison.

"Ah, that got your attention?" Reggie grumbled. "Look, I'm Reggie Bushroot. I was working on a serum at the university, a serum that can give animal life plantlike abilities. My boss, Dr. Dendron, was performing unethical practices, trying to sabotage the other researchers at the lab. She was fired, and I took charge of the project. I was just finishing a machine that can automatically perform the transfer, when she came in with Negaduck and some thug. I think Negaduck called him Launchpad…"

Megavolt, who was finally listening, said. "I know the guy. Real knucklehead. Has the brains of an ameba."

"Can someone let me out of the nice duck eating planty? It smells in here and it's not fun!" Quackerjack said.

"Promise that you won't attack me again and I'll let you both go." Reggie said.

"Aright, fine." Megavolt was giving the mutant a calculating look. Maybe he had been a little hasty. The guy didn't act like a villain or a monster. He seemed pretty darn rational, a whole lot more rational then Quackerjack. "I'll listen."

"Promise." Quackerjack said. Reggie wondered about trusting someone who used the tones of a disappointed child, but at the same time he didn't want to antagonize either individual.

"Its okay guys let them go." Reggie nodded at the flytrap and the vines, who complied. The vines merely allowed themselves to fall to the ground, dumping Megavolt on the floor. The flytrap coughed and spat out Quackerjack, then gamboled over to Reggie and rubbed against him like a loyal dog.

"Aww. Think I should call you Spike." Reggie smiled at the flytrap. "I should have known that a flytrap would be very active!"

"That's so cute!" Quackerjack grinned. "Isn't it Mr. Banana Brain?" He asked the doll.

"Sure is." Quackerjack waggled the doll and pitched his voice high. Apparently he was unaware that he was making the doll talk, or that he creeping the other two out.

"Anyway…" Reggie said. "Like I was saying, Negaduck and his cronies broke into my lab and held me and my two friends at gunpoint. Dr. Dendron wanted to use me as the lab experiment for the serum, and if I didn't do it they would kill my friends. I did what she asked, and blacked out. When I woke up I was a plant monster…" Reggie's voice grew more and more sad and upset as he talked, and at this point he sank to the ground. Spike waddled up to him and rubbed his snout on Reggie's head, trying to comfort him. "I...I woke up and saw them dead. He killed them anyway! I thought…I thought. There was nothing I could do! I…" Reggie shook his head.

The two others looked at him with mirrored looks of empathy and understanding. Reggie realized that both of them, even the nutty one, had been through similar experiences when it came to Negaduck.

"Negaduck's the real monster, not me." Reggie said sadly.

Megavolt tensed up. "Yes, he is. And I'm going after him. I can't let him have an army of mutants at his side. That's what he is going to do, you know? Make more like you, but this time from people loyal to him! I gotta stop it!" Megavolt marched towards the door.

"You mean us, right?" Quackerjack said with a grin.

"Oh hell no!" Megavolt whirled around and zapped the ground near his feet. "I told you already that I work alone! You two should stay here!" Megavolt turned away, and in a small voice that the other two could barely hear muttered "You'll only get your fool selves killed."

The two left in the greenhouse stared at the retreating back of Megavolt for a few moments. Almost as soon as he was out of sight Quackerjack laughed. "I'm not missing playtime!" As if a thought had penetrated his brain, Quackerjack's gleeful look was replaced with a sad one "Megavolt's not the only one who's had Negaduck poof…poof." Quackerjack shook his head and pulled out a pogo stick. In a few moments he was gone as well.

Reggie stood in his greenhouse, not knowing what to do. He wanted to cuddle up with his friendly plants. Let the lunatic duo do as they wanted. But then he thought of Dr. Gary and Dr. Larson. His two friends. If he just sat by and did nothing, then what? He once stood up for what was right, when he challenged Dr. Dendron by going to Tightbill. He had to stand up again.

"Spike, you wanna bite some bad guy?"

The flytrap nodded.

* * *

><p>Reggie hadn't expected to find quite the disaster he did when he arrived at the warehouse where Negaduck had stashed the machine. His plant telepathy had worked well, telling him that several scared roses, carnations, and lilies had been kidnapped, their term, from a floral shop. As he got closer he could even hear the little plants crying in terror. They weren't being handled right. They had no water, not even floral foam. They had been left in the open air, drying and gasping for water and cool. Reggie always hated to see poor looked aftered plants with their brown spots and their sad dropping petals. This was worse. He knew how much they suffered now.<p>

And the worst part was, Negaduck probably would have liked the knowledge that the plants he stole were suffering.

Reggie let the ivy growing on the warehouse walls lift him to a window. He gasped at what he saw. Megavolt and that other guy…Quackerjack, had apparently both been caught. They had been tied up on a dangling hook, and were apparently being lowered into a vat of water. It looked both incredibly elaborate and exceedingly too much at the same time.

"Gee, he has no problem just shooting someone, and then he does something like this? Negaduck is really weird." Said the mutant.

He looked around some more and he noticed the machine he had built sitting in the middle of the floor. Reggie had no idea if Negaduck had started already, but he did know that the crime lord had taken the time to gloat as his two victims, as he was just finishing off an evil speech.

"…and I know how much you loooove water, Megadolt. And once you short out, your little clown buddy is gonna see how much!" Negaduck laughed and strode towards the device. "Hey, at least you get front row seats to the birth of my army!" More evil laughing.

"I just want you to know that this all your fault." Megavolt sneered at Quackerjack.

"I'm not the one who tried to take on twenty people all on my own!"

"You got in my way!"

"You don't play nice."

"You're such a child!"

"You're mean!"

"Oh please, they're like a pair of brothers fighting over a toy!" Reggie muttered. "Well, I guess they need an adult!"

He knew what he needed to do. Destroy that machine. He knew how he could do it as well. He also knew that if he did do what he was thinking, many plants would be hurt, and might die.

Reggie couldn't ask them to do it, not unless he knew that they would understand. He concentrated on the ivy. He let them see into his mind. Let them see themselves twisting and growing in the machine, destroying it from the inside. Let them all grow inside, and clog up the gears and the switches and the other nooks and crannies. He let them know just how many of their sprouts would be lost. Then he let them know why. He let them know that an evil person was hurting good people, and that he needed to be stopped.

_We care not for that._

_ But…_

_ Animal morality means nothing, but we shall do it._

_ …why, if it means nothing to you?_

_ Because, you are ours. We protect what is ours. Now and forever, the Green protects its own. Save your animal pets, little brother. Leave it to us._

Reggie nodded as the ivy began to grow, subtly, under the ground, the vines reached. Growing faster than they would have normally, they reached for the machine and crawled into it. Reggie could feel them doing it.

Reggie slipped into the warehouse via the window, using his vine arms to grip the ceiling supports. He swung up and edged himself towards the two dangling heroes. He noticed a little clacking teeth thing that had been discarded on the floor. He reached a vine arm down and nabbed it, all behind Negaduck's back. The crime lord was too busy gloating to notice.

Finally, Reggie reached the place right above were the hook was connected to a crane. Apparently sometime during Reggie's crawl to the hook Negaduck had given to order to start lowering the two down into the water. Reggie pulled himself to a sitting position and started to fiddle with the clacking teeth.

"Now, how do you work?" He muttered.

At this point Quackerjack looked up. His eyes widened, and then a mad grin spread across his beak. He whistled to get Reggie's attention. The mutant looked down at the clown, who managed to wiggle a finger loose. He twisted the finger in a clockwise direction, indicated which way to turn the teeth.

Reggie nodded and began to twist the little key thing on the teeth. Megavolt, who finally noticed this, looked up as well. His eyes bugged out and he started to mouth the word "no" at Reggie furiously.

Reggie ignored him.

Finally, when he was sure the teeth were done, he tossed them on the ropes holding Megavolt and Quackerjack. Megavolt's eyes seemed to grow to the size of small plates. IN fact, it almost appeared that they bugged right out of his head. The teeth seemed to snarl as they chomped through the ropes.

Reggie concentrated hard on controlling his limbs. He sent his vine arms down and as the last rope parted and the teeth fell in the water, Reggie wrapped his new vine limbs around the two. They didn't even fall an inch. Reggie strained their weight a bit more then he thought.

_Both of them need to cut down on the fatty foods_…He thought as he struggled to pull them up.

Unfortunately, Quackerjack couldn't stand it anymore. His hooting laugh echoed through the warehouse. Every thug in the room turned towards them, including Negaduck.

"I hate you so much." Megavolt grumbled.

"I know you are but what am I?" Quackerjack laughed.

"Oh god, you didn't just say that! I'm going to forget you ever opened your bill!" Megavolt groaned.

"Please control yourself…children." Reggie said. _Yesterday I was filing papers in a nice air conditioned university, now I'm playing hero with the city's personal Superpig wannabe and Herby the Happy Clown. What the hell happened?_

_Having fun, little brother? Just another day for the Green._

_ And apparently I'm hearing a Collective of plants in my head. Good God if this wasn't so serious it would be hilarious._

Negaduck was jumping around and pointing at the two dangling heroes and the plant mutant. The thugs began to fire, and Reggie tried to speed up the reeling in.

"Wait a minute. Clown! Can you explode that tank?" Megavolt asked.

"Of course!" Quackerjack grinned and pulled out a round bomb from…somewhere. Reggie didn't want to know where, he might get an answer. Quackerjack snapped the fingers on his right hand and came up with a small fire. Reggie could see the little lighter hidden in his sleeve. It would have been a better trick if Reggie had been level with Quackerjack, if that had been the case it would have looked like the clown had just summoned a small flame. Quackerjack lit the bomb and stared at the little fuse.

"Throw it, idiot!" Megavolt bellowed.

"Not yet." Quackerjack said "Pyrotechnics is serious. Why do you think that is? It's because of the fire! Okay!" Quackerjack's mad grin widened. "It's plaaaaaaaaaytime!" He dropped the bomb.

The bomb fell and exploded before it hit the water. However the force of the explosion was enough to burst the tank open. As Megavolt gripped the supports above him he pointed his gun at the water spreading all over the floor…and all over the thugs.

"Eat my light." Megavolt growled as he pulled the trigger. The electricity stored in the gun struck the water, shocking the small army that Negaduck had brought. Negaduck, who was smarting then his thugs, had gotten out of the way, as had his main thug, Launchpad.

At that point the plants had apparently decided that they were bored. The machine gave a mighty creak, and then broke apart like an ill built sand castle. Vines wiggled around the machine's parts, tossing them around for good measure.

Negaduck, enraged, jumped on the vines with his chainsaw, slicing and cutting. His face was twisted in rage and hate. Reggie could hear the vines scream, and he clamped his leaves over his head, but the voices couldn't be stopped. It was not that kind of hearing.

"Hey, Veggie. No time." Quackerjack grabbed Reggie by the shoulders and lifted him up. "Time to go!"

Megavolt looked from Negaduck to Reggie. This could be his chance! If he just hit that maniac while he wasn't looking then it would be over! But, that plant mutant was hurting. He needed help. With a grunt of anger and frustration, Megavolt grabbed Reggie as well and helped Quackerjack run towards the window. A few more stray bullets grazed by them, but they didn't hit anyone.

By the time Negaduck had collected himself, the three were long gone.

* * *

><p>"I almost had him!" Megavolt raged in Reggie's greenhouse.<p>

"_He_ almost had _you_." Reggie pointed out. "Don't forget who came and saved you!"

Megavolt closed his eyes and sighed "Yeah, I remember. Thanks…Bushroot right?"

"I thought it was Reggie Veggie?" Quackerjack said.

"You're crazy, you don't get a vote." Megavolt said with gritted teeth.

"You wouldn't hold a little thing like sanity against a guy, would you?" Quackerjack grinned.

"Yes, yes I would." Megavolt retorted.

"Now children, that's enough." Reggie said with a laugh.

"I'm not a child!" Megavolt bellowed.

"Stop acting like one then." Reggie said. He wasn't laughing anymore. "The two of you aren't getting anywhere by bickering all the time. That's how you got caught in the first place. If you're gonna work together-"

"I have no intention of working with this lunatic! Or you for that matter! You helped once, but that's all!" Megavolt bellowed.

"…you're a bully." Quackerjack pouted.

"I'm not a bully!" Megavolt jumped up and down, throwing a very childlike temper tantrum. "I'm not letting any of you get hurt! No one is getting hurt because of me!"

"You know, you don't have a monopoly on powers." Reggie said as he indicated Spike, who was panting beside his master's side. "Or a desire to help people. You're unique, Megavolt, but you're not alone. You don't have to be alone."

"AHH! None of you get it! Team up together if you want! Play hero! I don't care! Just leave me out of it!" Megavolt stomped towards the exit of the greenhouse, never looking back.

Reggie sighed as he watched the rat leave. "I wonder what happened to make him like that…" He muttered. His eyes turned to Quackerjack, who was tugging on the ends of his hat and looking very upset.

"Hey, you okay?" Reggie asked.

"He's mean. People like him aren't supposed to be mean." Quackerjack said.

Reggie stared at Quackerjack for a long while. The duck gave him the creeps, but at the same time, there was something very earnest and good about him. Reggie knew that he couldn't get out of this. He was a mutant now, a monster. Might as well make it worth it.

"I'll help you." Reggie said. "Maybe we can convince Megavolt to join us, one of these days. But until then, we can help each other."

Quackerjack's strange grin returned and the clown bounced around Reggie. "Hehehe! I got a playmate! I got a playmate! I like you, Veggie! You're nice!"

"Er, right." Reggie sighed. "You know what; let's just stick with Bushroot from now on. I…think it fits better now than Reggie. _And then I won't have to hear more Reggie the Veggie jokes…okay not as many. Not sure how long I can keep this guy down. I swear he's like a kid…_

* * *

><p>The newspaper was not faltering:<p>

_Lunatic and Monster Team Up? Will This Bring St. Canard Relief or More Terror?_

_St. Canard thought it had seen it all when Megavolt appeared on the streets, but now, two more super powered beings have appeared, apparently emulating his style. The duo seems to be a force for good at the moment, but deeper investigation led to some terrifying realizations._

_One of these "heroes", calling himself Bushroot, is a monstrous plant-duck hybrid. A hybrid that might have had something to do with the murders at the university last week._

"_I saw it looming over them!" A witness claims after an encounter with the thing. "It was covered in blood and shrieking at me! It's a menace that needs to be put down!"_

_The other one, an oddly dressed clown who calls himself Quackerjack, after the failed toy company, my seem more normal. However, reports indicate that he is, in actuality, an escapee from the St. Canard. Asylum, a well renowned mental institution._

_The only question is, what is worse? A murderous monster and an escaped lunatic, or the criminals of St. Canard…"_

Steelbeak lowered the paper, his usual smile on his face. "Well, it looks like the plot thickens! I wonder what super powered hero we are gonna have next in the line! Hope it's a good one!

* * *

><p>Nothing else happened for several months.<p> 


	5. The Liquidator

An Author's Note: I've really had to tone down Liquidator's salesman speech pattern, for two reasons. One, it's pretty hard to write. Two, this is the Negaverse Bud Flud. As you'll see, his priorities are a bit different.

As is tradition for my fics, at this, the fifth chapter I will give the reviewer count, which as of this writing is at six. Thanks to one and all for reading my story, and thanks to any future readers. Hope yall enjoy the rest of the story.

The Liquidator

"Hello sir, the heat wave that's sweeping St. Canard is making it hot for all of us, but with Sparkling Crystal brand wa-"

Bud Flud winched as the irritated looked mallard in front of him slammed the door, nearly cutting off the end of his snout. "Well, someone has a short temp-oh no." Bud's eyes widened as the door opened to reveal a shotgun wielding duck.

"Get of my porch, salesman. Now." The duck cocked the gun.

Bud gulped and dropped the water bottles he was supposed to be selling. With a mild eep he turned and fled. To his horror the duck decided to shot anyway, and Bud was forced to weave as he made a break for his car. He leaped into the car as bullets sailed over his head. He quickly gunned the motor and sped off.

"Mental note to self, ask George to give me hazard pay." Bud sighed. "These neighborhoods are getting more and more dangerous as the days go by."

Bud had known this "promotion" was going to be horrible. Why in the world did the boss think that door to door selling would be a good idea? It's not like bottled water was Quackerware or something like that. You didn't sell water door to door. It's not like people didn't have sinks. But with this drought, for that was what it was, the chairman of Sparkling Clear water had thought up the door to door idea. And, unfortunately, Bud was one of the workers promoted. It meant that, instead of working in the shop he was supposed to be working in, he had to drive around this hot, hostile city peddling this nasty tasting waste to the citizens of St. Canard.

Bud checked his watch and nearly had a heart attack. If he didn't hurry he would be late!

He couldn't disappoint Hank, he just couldn't. Putting thoughts of the nutty citizenry of St. Canard aside, Bud's mind went back to the road and the need to get to the park, and fast.

* * *

><p>Ten minutes later the beat up blue car that Bud drove pulled up to a parking lot near the St. Canard city park. The salesman leaped out of the vehicle and ran to a fence surrounding a baseball field. He quickly found the bleachers and climbed up, looking around for someone.<p>

"Hey, over here. I saved you a seat!"

Bud looked over and grinned. "Carla." He quickly sat down next to the beautiful collie setting near the front of the bleachers. "I didn't miss too much, did I?"

"No, it just started. Hank's at bat right now."

Bud smiled and placed his hand on Carla's. "Hank! Go get em son!" He cupped his free hand over the side of his muzzled and bellowed.

The young pup at bat looked over and smiled. "Hi Dad!" He waved, and then went back to concentrating on the ball. In many ways he looked similar to his father, the same coloring, but his muzzle was narrower and more pointed. His floppy ears were shorter and a bit more pointed.

The pitcher threw the ball, and Hank gave a mighty swing. It was forceful enough to send the ball flying into the sky, and Hank whooped and ran to first base. He didn't press his luck, and stayed where he was. A good thing to, as someone from the opposite team had grabbed the ball from the grass and would surely have tagged Hank had he tried to go for second.

"Hehehehe, he knows when to stop when he has something good." Bud smiled.

"Must get that from his Dad." Carla squeezed his hand.

"He gets his good looks from his mother though." Bud smiled at her.

"You greatly underestimate your appeal, honey." Carla smiled back. Bud's heart swelled. Even after twelve years, she still had that effect on him.

It had been a chance meeting, but it had changed the course of his life. Ironic that they both worked for the same water company and that they had actually met at the water cooler at their work. If had looked any other way but to his right he might never have seen her, but he had. One look at her and Bud Flud had been smitten, and she had felt the attraction as well. A few months later they were dating. Opportunities had opened up for Bud, opportunities to advance in the company, but he was too busy being in love to care much about them. He married Carla two years later, and then a year later his son was born. He had never been happier since. Though he kind of hated his job, it didn't matter. As long as he had the two of them he was happy. He couldn't have imagined a life without them, and didn't want to either.

Bud cheered as he son broke into a run, stealing second. Yep, that was his boy. Opportunist to the end.

Sure, maniacs were running around in the street. Hoods like Negaduck and lunatics from a madhouse and monsters, but none of that was touching his family. He was an honest man, and a good father. He wasn't involved in the kind of things people like Negaduck or Megavolt would be interested in. He was happy as he was, and he didn't want to see anything change.

"And another great victory for Hank Flud, best player in the whole city of St. Canard!" Bud gloated a bit as he dusty, grass stained son climbed into the back of his car. "Now, three out of three of the family agrees that Hypo Burgers are the best follow-up to a victory! Right son?"

Hank laughed. "Dad, that salesman thing is so lame."

"I'm your dad; I'm supposed to be lame. Check your parent user manual. Its right there on page thirty three."

"Yeah, and my stomach agrees that it needs diner, Buddy." Carla said as she slid into the passenger seat. "Drive, water dog."

"Your wish is my command, my lady." Bud said, laughing. He started the car and drove off.

Had he stayed for a little bit longer he might have noticed one of Hank's teammates walking home alone. He might have seen the shadow that followed the little boy down the street. He might have seen the shadow suddenly swoop down and scoop up the child, who didn't even have time to scream.

If Bud had, things might have ended up differently.

But perhaps not.

* * *

><p>Bud was awoken late that night from a deep sleep by the sound of his son screaming. Alarmed, he rushed out of bed, followed by his wife. The two of them raced to their son's room, both slightly panicked. They burst though to door.<p>

Hank was screaming and thrashing around on his bed. "No! Dad, don't!"

"I'm here son! Hank, wake up!" Bud rushed to his son's side and gently shook him. The little pup opened his eyes and gasped awake.

"Dad!" He squeaked.

"I'm here Hank, everything's okay." Bud said.

"I…it was horrible Dad. I dreamed you were a monster." Hank said.

"A monster?"

"Yeah. There was all this water and you were laughing and hurting people! It was terrible." Hank said.

Bud hugged his son and patted him on the back. "It's okay. It was just a bad dream. Nothing but a bad dream."

"But it was so real." Hank said.

"Dreams can be like that, but they're just dreams." Bud smiled at his son and patted him on the head. "It's probably all those scary movies you've been watching."

"I told the pair of you Goopzilla wasn't a thing to watch at nine at night." Carla said with a sight.

"Yeah, I think your mom is right there." Bud said. "You need to get back to bed. You have school tomorrow."

"Now there's a nightmare." Hank muttered as he lay back down.

"Maybe I should stay with you. Heck, could even sing you sleep." Bud grinned.

"Daaad, I'm not five." Hank said.

Bud laughed and did it anyway, despite his son's mild protests. His voice was soft and gentle, and although Hank was under the impression that kids his age didn't need to be sung to sleep, the boy did secretly like it. Soon he stopped protesting and just listened to his father's voice. Then, he drifted off to sleep.

He had no more bad dreams that night.

* * *

><p>The next morning Hank was late. He struggled to bolt down his eggs and toast as Bud rushed around the kitchen, flipping more eggs for Carla and himself. Carla came down the stairs, looking very tired as if she had no sleep last night. Hank also had little black rings around his eyes.<p>

"Am I the only one who got some semblance of sleep last night?" Bud asked as he finished scrambling an egg and placed it in between two slices of bread. He handed the makeshift sandwich to his wife, who smiled.

"I think so. Hank, is that your bus?" Carla said as she looked out the window.

"Shit!" Hank blurted as he grabbed for his backpack. Bud, on alert the moment the bad word emitted from his little boy's mouth, clapped a hand on his shoulder.

"Where did you hear that word, young man?" Bud asked.

"Er…Uncle George." Hank said.

"I see." Bud frowned. He mentally noted that in his head. "Hank, what have I told you about bad words."

"There are some words you can't say in polite company? Like the one you said when the dresser fell on your toe?"

Bud winched. "Yes, like that one. Add that other word to the list. I don't want you to say it."

Hank shrugged. "Okay Dad." For a moment Hank remembered his dream. All that water, and the laughing. That mad, greedy laugh from a voice so like, yet unlike, his Dad.

_Not just hot. Boiling!_

He remembered the laugh, and that sentence, but to him it didn't mean much, only that he didn't ever, every want to hear his Dad talk like that. It was like walking up to someone who looked familiar from the back, then they turned around and you found that it was a stranger. Compulsively he hugged his father, who embraced him.

"You're gonna miss your bus, big guy." Bud said.

"Right! See you tonight Dad." Hank grinned and then hugged his mother, figuring that he couldn't leave her out. "Love you guys." He raced off to the bus, just in time.

Carla smiled as she watched him go, but then her face became more troubled. Bud noticed his wife's change and demeanor and frowned.

"You alright, babe?"

"Yes. No. I just had a bad dream last night." Carla frowned. "You know that crime boss, Negaduck?"

Bud shuddered. "Yep."

"I saw him standing on a catwalk over some old witches' pot. You were there as well, standing on the catwalk. He bellowed and you fell in and started to melt." Carla shuddered. "It was terrible."

"That does sound pretty nasty. I'm sorry you didn't sleep well."

Carla nodded and bit into her breakfast some more. She didn't want to tell Bud about the other part of her dream; the part where he was working for Negaduck, because Bud would never do that. Not in this reality.

* * *

><p>"Another one's been hit." George shook his head as he looked at the paper. "That just leaves us and that weird fizzy water!"<p>

Bud turned to his superior, and sort of friend. "Again? That's bad. Bad enough we're having a drought, but who poisons water when there's a drought?"

"Well, I'm not letting our factories get hit. Since you have such an objection to selling water, maybe you can help me install these new security cameras."

"George, I was shot yesterday. I think that might be a bit of a detriment, yes?" Bud said irritably. "Unlike you, I have a wife and son to worry about."

"I know that." George put the paper down. He rubbed his bill in exasperation. "But that was just once. Besides, I'm giving you a different job today. And, since I know it'll take you longer to do this then selling, I'll even pay you overtime. I know you can use it."

Bud shrugged. "Well, that's true." He walked over to the phone. "Let me call Carla, tell her I'll be late. She'll have to pick up Hank from school."

"How is the little muncher anyway?" George asked.

Bud frowned. "He said 'shit' this morning. You have anything to say about that, George?"

George frowned. "No. If I said it in front of him it was an accident. I don't go around teaching kids foul language. If I teach em they have to pay me!"

Bud smiled at the duck, deciding to let the incident go. "He won his game yesterday, just as I said he would. He's great. Maybe he could even get into the major leagues one of these days."

"Huh. All that ambition you had before you met Carla is now directly aimed at your boy. There's a psychoanalysis for that, Buddy." George laughed.

"My only hope is that I can get off for good behavior form the madhouse. Apparently, they let anyone walk out." Bud said as he picked up the phone and dialed the place where his wife worked. Though they still worked for the same company they now worked in different buildings. The wonderful world of promotions. Plus, the fact that it was kind of hard to work in the same place as your wife, or at least Bud found it hard. He got distracted. At lot. And awkwardly.

"Sparkling Crystal Water, how may I help you?" The fake person on the phone asked.

"Is Carla there?"

"Just a moment."

A few moments later. "This is Carla."

"Hey sweetie."

"Buddy? Don't tell me that Hank blew up the toilets again, did he?"

"I hope not." Bud said. "George has a new job for me. He wants me to install security systems in the factories. I'm gonna be late tonight."

"…what is George thinking? You're a salesman, not the security man!"

"Orders are orders, babe."

Bud winched at the exasperated sigh "Okay, okay. I can pick Hank up. I'll even save you a pork chop. A small one. Miniscule."

"And I'm sure that it will be the most wonderful, tasty-"

"Buddy, you aren't sweet talking me again, are you?"

"Of course not, dear." Bud paused. "Is it working?"

"Ha. Ha. Funny." She hung up rather abruptly.

"Everything okay?" George asked.

"Aww, she's mad at me." Bud shrugged. "I'll have to make it up to her tonight. So, what do I have to do with these cameras, boss?"

* * *

><p>After learning the basics of how to set up the new cameras, Bud had piled the aforementioned devices into his car and drove off. He hoped that, despite the complicated instructions, he would be able to get this done fast, and go home.<p>

As soon as he was gone, George picked up the phone and dialed a number.

"I have another one for you, Sir. I even got the man out of the way. It'll just be the kid and mother."

"Address?" The sinister voice of Negaduck asked.

"6098 Hunter Dr. It's on the south side." George said. "When do I get my cut?"

"When I have the brat! And if you keep asking me that your cut will involve you neck and my chainsaw!" Negaduck hung up the phone, clearly not happy.

George shuddered. If Negaduck wasn't paying such a high price for brats to kidnap he wouldn't have done it. Negaduck was too unstable. Not only that, but George suspected that the crime lord was responsible for the water poisonings. Still, it didn't matter to George.

"Sorry Buddy." George felt a twinge of guilt, but ignored it.

* * *

><p>"Okay, Launchpad, we are on a schedule here. First, we have to drop off this load of brats to SHUSH." Negaduck nodded to the back of the van Launchpad was driving. The thug nodded, chuckling a bit at the crying emitting from the van. He hated kids, and this was fun to him.<p>

"What does Hooter want with the brats?" Launchpad asked.

"Don't know, don't care." Negaduck said. "He's paying me five hundred a head, and that's all I care about."

"Why don't you donate that Gosalyn kid you go-"Launchpad didn't have time to finish the sentence. Negaduck lunged and produced a machete from…somewhere. He held the blade close to Launchpad's throat.

"That girl is mine." Negaduck said. "No one touches her!"

Launchpad laughed "You getting soft on me, Negaduck."

"No." Negaduck grinned "But if you want to argue the point, then I can certainly show you how soft I am." Negaduck pressed the machete closer to Launchpad's neck, drawing blood.

"Okay, okay." Launchpad grumbled. "Knock it off, boss."

Negaduck sneered at turned back around. "It's none of your damn business why I'm keeping that kid. You're hired to drive things and punch things. I didn't hire you for your brains or personality!"

Launchpad grumbled, but said no more. After a bit Negaduck continued with his original point.

"After we deliver the cargo we're heading to the last water factory to dump the stuff in."

"Why?" Launchpad asked.

"Because the Fizzy Water CEO is paying us for it!" Negaduck snarled.

"You hate clowns." Launchpad pointed out.

"I like money more. And once I get the pay I'll sabotage them as well. Just for having a clown mascot." Negaduck said. He wasn't an honest businessman. "The last thing we are going to do is pick up one more kid for SHUSH."

"Why don't we go for the kid now?"

"Because it's three, and the brats don't leave school until three thirty. The factory is on our way to the address, going from SHUSH headquarters." Negaduck explained.

"Ohhhh." Launchpad said.

They drove in silence the rest of the way to SHUSH. After dropping off the load of kids, Launchpad drove the van to the last factory they were supposed to poison.

"Get the stuff and follow me." Negaduck checked to make sure his gun was where it was supposed to be and got out of the van. He strode to the factory and barged in, headless of any security measures the knobs might have put in his way. He didn't care who knew about his activities. Heck, half of his power was built on his reputation as the one duck in the city you didn't cross. Ever.

"Start dumping." Negaduck growled as he paced around the catwalk above the vats of water. He grinned as his henchman dumped the bottles of poison in the water. He didn't really know what the stuff did, but it made the water taste funny, almost to the point of not being drinkable. He was so busy watching the poison mix with the water that he didn't hear the car drive up.

He did, however, notice it when the door to the factory opened and Bud Flud walked in, headless of the danger. He was going to his workplace, and though it was getting dark he was confident that he would be safe. It never crossed his mind that there might be danger.

Negaduck whirled around, thinking either Megavolt or the Dipbrain Duo, what he was calling the team up of Bushroot and Quackerjack, had arrived. Instead, it was just some random mutt at the wrong place and totally wrong time.

Negaduck turned and jumped down in front of the startled Bud. He gasped. "You! You're Negaduck!"

"Oh, we got a smart on here." Negaduck snarled. "I hate smart ones."

"Catch!" Thinking fast, Bud threw the box of security cameras he had been holding at Negaduck. It was a direct hit, and Negaduck went down hard.

_Not as tough as the papers say!_ Bud thought in glee as he turned and ran.

Had Bud just ran, without hitting Negaduck, he might have been allowed to leave. Negaduck, however, was not angry. No one hit him like that! He pulled out his gun and fired wildly. His aim was bad, instead of getting Bud anyplace vital, he instead shot something less then vital.

Bud felt something slam into the back of his leg. Pain shot through it, and he tumbled to the ground, blood spurting from his leg. He screamed and tried to scramble to his feet. Negaduck was there in a single leap; his webbed foot landed onto Bud's back, driving him back into the ground. Growling, Negaduck grabbed Bud by the hair and began to slam his face into the ground.

"Hey boss, done with the poison." Launchpad walked over to his boss, his tone casual.

"Yeah, I see." Negaduck considered the semi-conscious man that he had been slamming into the ground not two seconds earlier. "Ever wonder what that poison would do to a guy if you drowned him in it?"

"Naw, but I bet it would be fun."

"I think so as well. Grab him." Negaduck got off Bud and grabbed him by the shoulders, while Launchpad took him by the feet. They started to carry him to the poisoned water vats. At first Bud was too stunned to figure out what was going on. As soon as his muddled brain figured it out he began to struggle, but both Negaduck and Launchpad weren't going to let him go until they got to the top of the catwalk.

"Hope you like water, knob." Negaduck gloated as and Launchpad tossed Bud over the railing and into a vat.

As soon as he came into contact with the water Bud began to scream and struggled.

"Help! It burns!" Bud screeched. "Melting!"

"Oh, he's melting! I like that!" Negaduck said as he approached the vat. Bud attempted to grab the side of the vat and pull himself out, but Negaduck found a broom lying on the floor and batted him backwards until he was in the middle of the vat.

Bud took a deep breath and stopped screaming. His face was contorted in pain, but he refused to scream anymore. He wouldn't give that animal standing in front of him the satisfaction. He stared into the mad eyes of Negaduck as he body began to unravel, to turn into a paste, then a mush, then liquid. The last to go was his chest and head, and that was when he sank in totally, and was completely submerged.

His last memory was of the gloating form of Negaduck, and for the first time in Bud's life, hate filled his heart.

Then his heart stopped. Forever.

* * *

><p>Carla felt very uneasy. There was just something odd in the air that night. Even Hank seemed to sense it. He wandered about the front room, sometimes flipping channels on the tv. Sometimes looking at his father's books. Sometimes just staring at the window.<p>

"When's he gonna be home, Mom?" Hank asked.

"I don't know." Carla shuddered.

Neither of them noticed the van.

* * *

><p>He felt current. A stream, a force that carried him to and fro. He didn't really know where, but it was strange. Like what a car on a highway must have felt like. He could sense things. Sense the fishes swimming in him, the plants dragging their roots through his body. He could even feel the roots of one who was not really a plant at all. He could feel himself being pored into pots and pans and then boiled. He felt himself being drunken, being washed with, being used.<p>

He was water. He was everywhere.

He felt himself being shot out of a water hose, onto a house. There was something here. Something familiar. More familiar than any other sense.

Her, she was here. She should be here.

Concentrate.

With a vast amount of effort, Bud Flud formed in the middle of a burning fire. A house that was burning down. With a start, he realized he knew this place. It was his house. He stood in the middle of a fire, in his own home, and he didn't get burned. But he did feel and odd draining sensation, but up instead of down. He was boiling. Of course he was boiling. He was water.

He looked down at himself in puzzlement. He had achieved the basic outline of his old appearance. Two arms, a dog head, floppy ears, but he was made of water.

Wait, why was his house burning down?

"Bud…"

"Carla?" His voice surprised him. It was so…watery. Like he was speaking through water. Well, he was water. This was odd.

"Bud."

"Carla, where are you!" Bud moved his watery limbs, striding through the fire like it was not there. He seemed indestructible.

He found her in the living room, and what he saw there made him gasp in horror. She was lying on the floor, riddled with bullet holes. She was clutching a lamp, a lamp covered in blood. She had fought her attackers, and lost.

"Carla!" Bud rushed over and knelt down with a slosh. "I'll get you out, just wait."

"Bud, they took Hank. Negaduck took Hank." Carla said, though her voice was barely able to go above a whisper. "Get Hank…"

"Of course. We'll get him back, you and me. Just let me get you out of here!"

"Not sure if I can, sweetie." Carla smiled one last time at her husband. "I love you."

"No! No!" Bud screamed. "Someone help me!" He wondered where in the hell were those firefighters! "She's hurt! _For God's sake why is no one coming!_" He stopped shouting when he felt a hand on his watery cheek.

"Love you…" Carla said. Her eyes closed.

"No, don't leave me. No." Bud whimpered. "No…" Even though he was all water now, drops appeared beneath his eyes and slide down his snout. "Don't leave me…"

* * *

><p>These days it was rare to hear a sentient canine howl. Of course the none-sentient kind did it all the time, but the ones with the brains and the opposable thumbs frowned upon this. It wasn't exactly couth. So when the firefighters heard a strange, watery howl coming from the house they were trying to put out, they thought it was a pet dog, not a man.<p>

Of course, they never found evidence of a pet, just a dead woman and a lot of water.

Sentient dogs don't howl, normally.

But sometimes, they do.

* * *

><p>Bud used the pipes.<p>

He could spread himself out, till he was thinner then the thinnest of paper. Every atom that had once held a solid man now was spread through the water. The water was a part of him, and he could use it to find his prey. Negaduck wouldn't be able to hide.

He had considered asking the local heroes, but rage fueled him. They might be like heroes on the stories, cautioning mercy and pity. Right now, Bud felt no pity.

He would terminate that duck. He was indestructible. He was a terminator.

No, wait, not a terminator.

A Liquidator.

* * *

><p>The water rose in the pipes of Negaduck's hideout. It wasn't the Audubon hideout or the home at Avian Way, but a warehouse near the docks. Negaduck used this location to conduct business. It was three days later, though Negaduck hadn't really thought of the two murders he had done that day. To him it was like a trip to the store. Of course the fact that he had to patch that idiot Launchpad up had been annoying. You wouldn't think a big guy like him would be taken down so well by a housewife with a lamp. Negaduck was still a bit irked about that. Still, Launchpad was the most effective hired muscle Negaduck had ever hired. He was stupid, loyal and willing to do just about anything Negaduck asked. What could be better?<p>

"Hey boss, we got another one." Lamont, who by now had become the number two man in Negaduck's operation, poked his head into the office that Negaduck had taken over. "And the concrete just came in." The gang was constantly running out of the concrete needed for the classic shoes. Negaduck liked coming up with new ways to kill people, but sometimes one was in the mood for the classics.

Negaduck nodded and looked up from where he had been cleaning his gun. He nodded at Lamont "Is it that moron who led me and Launchpad to that house with the psycho lamp wife?"

Lamont nodded. The mutt hadn't really changed in the past few years. He still dressed like a reject from the fifties, and he still had that dumb voice. Still, the fact was that though he was annoying, Lamont still could micromanage the gang, and micromanaged it well enough so that it kept running smoothly. While Negaduck was more often than not found with Launchpad by his side, it was Lamont who ran things when Negaduck couldn't. Some might have thought to take over the gang from under Negaduck, but Lamont never even thought of that. He liked his hide where it was, thank you very much.

Negaduck snarled. "Bring him in."

George slipped in, looking intimidated. Perhaps it was the amount of weaponry that Negaduck had collected over the years. The walls of the former office were covered with an array of spiky, pointy, heavy weapons. Some were medieval sword and maces and other crushy things. Some were guns. All looked lethal.

"What do you want?" Negaduck snarled.

"I gave you that kid. I'm here for my cut." George said, trying to keep the tremor out of his voice. No one noticed the pipes in the walls creaking.

"Yeah, you also gave my bodyguard a cut on his arm. You know how hard it is to find a doctor in this town?" Negaduck snarled.

George refrained from saying that if Negaduck stopped blowing up hospitals for fun then it might be easier to find a doctor. He still had some survival skills left.

"Look, I lured Flud out! Not my fault if Carla was a bit of a fighter. Besides, you got the brat in the end."

Negaduck glared at the man. "How about this, I keep the money, you keep your life. Sound good?" Negaduck pointed his gun as George.

"Now wait! You can't-"George started to say something, but a bullet whizzed by his head, cutting his speech off.

"I got a gun, I make the rules." Negaduck said.

"Bu-"Another shot, this one a bit nearer, clipped the feathers on top of George's head. "Nice working with you!" George turned and fled. Negaduck considered shooting the man in the head, just for fun, but then he decided against it. Why waste a bullet?

Negaduck sighed. It was so darn hot and sticky in this damn warehouse. He had been chugging water all day, the unpoisoned kind, but he still felt too hot. He also needed to answer nature's call, due to all the water he had consumed during this heat wave.

"Mind the store, knob." Negaduck said to Lamont, who nodded and stood beside his boss's chair. He never would think of actually sitting in it. Not if he wanted his head.

Negaduck went out the door and stepped out into the catwalk above the warehouse floor. Once the room that was Negaduck's office had been used by accountants who accounted things for the inventory of this abandoned warehouse, but now Negaduck used it to command his gang. He had no idea what the warehouse had been used for previously, but since they were near the docks he suspected it was fish. The place smelled fishy.

Negaduck glanced down from the catwalk at his gang, who were even now unloading bags of cement and piling them into a corner for later use, right beside the bazookas and the Uzis. Negaduck had a good stockpile of weapons. He smiled as he eyed his operation. Everything was going nice and smoothly.

He opened the door to the restrooms and took care of what he needed to take care of. Despite the drought he had made it very clear that if his needs were not fulfilled then there would be hell to pay. And so, by hook or by crook, Negaduck never wanted for water.

As he was washing his hands he noticed something odd. Some sixth sense of his started to ring alarm bells in his mind. He stepped back from the water flowing through the faucet, but it was too late. A watery hand swiftly formed from the faucet and lashed forwards, gripping Negaduck by the neck.

"Feeling tired of criminal activities?" A sinister, bubbling voice echoed from the drain. "Larceny getting you down? Murder getting dull? Need a vacation? Just call the new and improved Liquidator, and get a nice relaxing vacation!" A head popped out of the drain. A very angry, canine head formed entirely of water "With the fishes!" The head finished as it glared at Negaduck through watery eyes.

"Lamont! Bring me my shotgun!" Negaduck snarled.

The Liquidator laughed. "Not happening, ducky!" He grinned and yanked, trying to pull Negaduck into the faucet, headfirst.

Negaduck grimaced and placed his feet against the wall and pulled, not about to be dragged into the sewers by irate water. Lamont burst into the room, carrying Negaduck's shotgun. He stared at the scene before him, flabbergasted.

"Give. Me. That. Gun!" Negaduck bellowed.

Lamont squeaked and tossed his boss the gun. Negaduck grabbed the weapon and shot at the wall approximately were he thought Liquidator's main body must be. Liquidator just laughed and flowed out of the bullet holes, spreading all over the floor.

"Statistics show that bullets have no effect on water!" He laughed. "Now where is my son?" He bellowed, dropping the salesmanese.

Negaduck grinned. "How should I know? Do you think I keep track of the fools I kill?"

Liquidator snarled. "You were just talking about him. To George. I was in the pipes. I heard it all. Where did you take him!"

"Oh, that brat?" Negaduck smiled, putting two and two together. "You didn't become like that for no reason, I bet you were that mutt I tossed into that contaminated water. So that was your brat? Tough." Negaduck laughed. "Talk about bad luck."

"I'm not playing with you, Negaduck." Liquidator hissed. He took a watery hand and covered Negaduck's head completely, cutting off his air. "You're going to tell me where my son is, or you're going to drown!"

Negaduck's eyes slid over to where Lamont had been. To his shock the mutt had ditched him! That little traitor! As soon as he got out of this he was going to kill him! Slowly.

However, as soon as he thought this Lamont came back, carrying a flamethrower. He twisted a few knobs on the device and fired at the area with the most water, hoping to evaporate the Liquidator. The Liquidator turned with a frown on his face. He growled and lunged at the flamethrower in a huge wave, putting the flames out and tossing Lamont out of the room. However, this drew his attention from Negaduck, who wiggled out of his watery grasp and leaped over the waves of water on the floor and through the door. Negaduck landed on the slightly damp catwalk, and before Liquidator could react he had swung down to the ground. Liquidator followed, pooling to the floor and reforming into his humanoid shape.

Negaduck looked around and picked up a nearby Uzi, pointing it at Liquidator. "Don't move."

Liquidator laughed. "Research shows that your weapons have no effect on a being that can't die!" Liquidator's eyes narrowed again. "Unlike my wife. Now, I won't ask you again. Where is my son?"

"I don't know. I just gave him to SHUSH. Don't know what they want with brats, and I don't care. You want the little mutt back? Go to them, or go to your friend. I'm just the delivery boy."

"Trust me, George is my next stop. But you, you murdered my wife." Liquidator said as he oozed closer.

Negaduck laughed. "You think you're the first one I've done that to? Please! If I had a penny for every family member I've killed I'd be richer than those bigwigs in Duckburg!" Negaduck pulled the trigger, but the bullets just went through Liquidator, doing nothing at all.

"Then I guess I have nothing more to say to you." Liquidator formed as a wave and rushed towards Negaduck, intent on drowning Negaduck. Negaduck jumped up on the boxes of weapons and ran, firing his weapon at the wave. It didn't do a thing. However, as he was blasting the wave he noticed little bits of the concrete he had ordered his gang to bring in scattered on the floor. He noted how the concrete grabbed at his liquefied opponent. Negaduck grinned and ran for the bags of concrete, the wave following at his heels.

Negaduck reached into his jacket and pulled out a small mine. He pressed red button on top, which began to flash. He stuck the mine on the bags of concrete as he leaped up on them, and then pulled himself up on the catwalk. He turned and fired at the mine just as the wave started to lick at the bags of concrete.

The explosion tore the bags of concrete apart, and the resulting debris made Negaduck cover his eyes.

When he looked up Negaduck saw a grey, concrete coved hand reaching up for him. The Liquidator pulled himself up on the catwalk, a look of fury on his face. He snarled and stared towards Negaduck, who frowned. What was it going to take to bring this knob down? His frown turned into a grin as he noticed that his foe's movements were becoming slower and more labored. Finally, the Liquidator grinned to a halt right in front of Negaduck, his arms still raised to grab the crime lord.

Negaduck laughed. "Look at this, boys! I got a new lawn ornament!"

From various hiding places the other members of his gang poked their heads out, each breathing sighs of relief.

* * *

><p>Negaduck set up the Liquidator statue in the middle of his hideout. He attached plumbing to it and used it as a fountain. He meant for the Liquidator to spend an eternity in his concrete prison, and to be condemned forever to life of frozen, helpless agony. He hoped that the thought of Liquidator's failure to find justice for his wife, and to save his son from whatever SHUSH was doing to him, would linger on in the Liquidator's mind and drive him mad.<p>

He didn't understand that by making him a fountain, he had given the Liquidator an escape route. As soon as those pipes were installed inside him it was only a matter of time until the Liquidator's essence leaked through the pipes and into the sewers, where he easily reformed.

Liquidator considered going after Negaduck again, but that scene in the office played in his mind. He had trusted George! Let the man come into his house, to eat his food and play with his son! And that monster gave his son to Negaduck! _Sold_ his son!

That couldn't stand. Not at all.

* * *

><p>"Buuushroot! I'm boooored!"<p>

Bushroot shook his head gently at his slightly unbalanced cohort. "It looks like it's a slow crime day." He said as he peered over a roof to gaze at the slow moving citizenry below. "Must be the heat wave. Heck, I'm a little dry myself."

"You are looking a bit brown." Quackerjack said, via Mr. Banana Brain. Bushroot had long ago decided to humor him about the talking banana doll thing. It was easier for both of them.

_The water is mad today._

"Hmmmm." Bushroot hummed to himself. At the background chatter of the plants to the other things that Bushroot was getting used to. Crazy ducks and talking plants. That's what his life was filled with these days.

_Little brother, the water is really_ really_ mad today._

Bushroot frowned. What in the world was the plant world upset about now? Sometimes it was hard to decipher their vocabulary, and their priorities.

"Your friends are upset?" Quackerjack asked. The news that Bushroot could hear plants in his head didn't seem to faze Quackerjack, but then again he talked to bananas.

"They keep talking about the water being mad. Not sure what they mean."

"Maybe it's mad because it's so hot. Everyone is, why not the water?" Quackerjack said, as if talking about the water as if it could think was perfectly natural. Bushroot stared at him.

"Help! Help!"

"Oh! Good! Screaming!" Quackerjack perked up and headed for the source of the screams.

_Only he would find screaming a cause for excitement, and only I would feel the need to come after him._ Bushroot thought as he ran after Quackerjack, who was bouncing for the apartment window that the screams had emanated from.

As the two drew closer they could see something through the window, it looked blue and watery. In fact, just as they were about to reach the window they saw a small bit of water splash against the glass.

"Just watch, someone forgot to install a three quarter pickny flange or something like that." Bushroot said. "Quackerjack, open the window please."

"Hehehehe, its plaaaaaaaaaaaaytime!" Quackerjack smiled and threw a ball at the window, breaking it open. Although he wished that there were better ways to open the windows, he had to admit that Quackerjack's way was effective. He smiled a bit as Quackerjack leaped, curled himself up into a ball, and flew through the window. He had to admit, Quackerjack might not have had powers, but he made up for it by being the most acrobatic and inventive duck Bushroot knew.

Bushroot's method of entry was less dramatic; he simply extended his vine arms and squeezed through the hole. He straightened himself and gasped at what he saw. There, standing in the middle of what had been a nice apartment was a large amount of water shaped like a man. The water was menacing a cringing duck, who had backed up against a wall, hands covering his head as he trembled in fear.

The water turned to the two heroes, and Bushroot could clearly see the rage and pain on the water's face, even though it was mere liquid.

"Don't interfere." The water said. "I have no quarrel with you."

"Back away from him, don't do something you'll regret." Bushroot said.

The water laughed. "The Liquidator is having a three for one special on revenge! First him, then the other two! Package deal!" His eyes narrowed. "If you so called heroes want to be part of the sale, then stick around."

"Hehehehehehehe. You talk salesmanese. That's funny. You're funny. I like you. Too bad I have to hurt you. Oh well." Quackerjack laughed as he edged to flank the Liquidator's right side.

"Hurt me? HURT ME!" The Liquidator laughed. "Like you could!" The Liquidator shot a tentacle of water towards Quackerjack, who jumped out of the way.

"Is that a Southern wave, or a Northern wave?" Quackerjack laughed at the tentacle as he avoided it. This just made Liquidator madder.

"I could smother you in an instant; you're just a normal duck!" Liquidator snarled.

"Objection, I'm normal! None of you freaks are!" George spouted. "Leave me alone, Bud! I didn't do any-"

"You SOLD my son to Negaduck!" The Liquidator dropped the salesman accent and snarled at George.

All of a sudden Quackerjack stopped laughing. "What?" He said.

"I used to work for this trash." Liquidator snarled. "He got me out of the way, and got me killed and led Negaduck right to my home. Negaduck killed my wife and kidnapped my son, and it's _your entire fault, George!"_ Liquidator was now totally focused on the duck in front of him.

"I didn't sell your kid! Selling implies I got something from it! All I got was shot at!" George said.

"Oh, no." Quackerjack shook his head. "No way. I'm not helping you." For the first time since he had met him, Bushroot saw Quackerjack somewhat serious. The usually manic duck was now frowning and shaking his head. Quackerjack leaned back against the wall and said. "Do what you want, I won't stop you."

"What! Quackerjack!" Bushroot stared at his friend, who had never before refused to help another.

Quackerjack turned and stared into Bushroot's eyes, and said, in a totally serious tone "You don't hurt children. You don't. I won't help any who do. No."

The Liquidator smiled. He oozed towards George, ready to finish what he started.

"Wait! No!" Bushroot, knowing it was up to him, stepped in front of the Liquidator. "Bud, right?"

The Liquidator paused. "It was Bud." He said in a low, dangerous voice. "I'm the Liquidator now."

"No Bud, don't. Don't be like this." Bushroot stepped closer to the enraged water dog. "Look at yourself, is this really what you want?"

"I want justice." The Liquidator said.

"This isn't justice, this is murder! You can't kill him just because he hurt you, that's not how justice works!" Bushroot said. "Look at me, look at Quackerjack! We've been hurt by Negaduck and his minions too, but we aren't going on rampages."

"You leave me out of this, Reggie." Quackerjack said his voice still serious. Bushroot shot him a surprised look, but then turned back to the Liquidator.

"Out of my way." The Liquidator said. "I know what you are going to say. That killing him won't bring Carla back, or bring me my son. But it's what he deserves. I thought he was my friend, and now look at me."

"Look at me." Bushroot said. "I'm a monster outside. I can hear the voices of the plants in my mind. I can make them grow, I can tell them what to do. But I don't kill people, because that is what a real monster would do. You can be a monster, Bud, or not."

"Does it really matter now?" Liquidator asked.

"Would matter to your wife and child?" Bushroot asked.

_"There was all this water and you were laughing and hurting people! It was terrible. It was so real."_

The Liquidator stopped. He remembered his son's voice. His son's nightmares. His son's fears. The fear that he, Bud Flud, would become a monster. Was he really going to become that monster from his son's dreams? Was he really going to fulfill the prophecy? No, no he wasn't. He couldn't. He wanted to, oh how he wanted to!

"No." Liquidator said. "You are right. When I find my son, I want to be able to look him in the eyes."

Reggie smiled at him as the Liquidator backed off. Quackerjack looked from the Liquidator to George. George sighed in relief. Quackerjack frowned and stepped forwards. "If you aren't going to do something, I will." His voice still had that odd tone in it.

"Quackerjack! No!" Bushroot couldn't believe this. It was bad enough that he had to talk Liquidator down, now he had to talk his own partner down?

"You shouldn't hurt children." Quackerjack wasn't laughing. That was what was scaring Bushroot the most right now. There was just something very very eerie about the fact that Quackerjack wasn't laughing, and that he sounded serious. Quackerjack pulled out some of his exploding marbles, intent on George. George squealed and tried to back up, but he was against a wall.

"Stop that!" Bushroot shouted.

"You don't tell me what to do!" Quackerjack snarled back. Bushroot felt stunned, like Spike had just turned around and bit him. Sure they had barely spent a few months as partners, but he never thought that Quackerjack would do this. This was wrong.

Quackerjack lunged for George, but Bushroot lashed out with his vines and grabbed Quackerjack by the waist. "I said stop it!" Bushroot shouted. Quackerjack struggled and for a second Bushroot thought that he was going to turn on him.

"Spike!" Bushroot bellowed. The flytrap popped up in the window and panted at him. Spike was never far behind the two of them, like the loyal flytrap he was. Bushroot gently flung Quackerjack into the flytrap's open maw.

"Buuuushroot! It smells in here!" Quackerjack whined. Bushroot ignored his friend's whining and ordered Spike home. The trap did as it was told, leaving Bushroot and the Liquidator alone. The two stared at each other.

"Please tell me you aren't going to have another go at him, are you?" Bushroot said.

Liquidator shook his head "No, you're right. Is your friend going to be okay?"

"I don't know. He doesn't usually act like this." Bushroot said.

"What does he usually do? Evil clown acts?" George asked sarcastically.

"You shut up!" Liquidator snarled. George eeped and dove under a table.

The Liquidator sighed and shook his head. He had no idea what to do now. As if sensing his conflict, Bushroot smiled at him. "You want to tag along?" He asked as he indicated the window.

The Liquidator stared at him, and then nodded. He might as well go with the plant mutant. After all, he didn't have anywhere else to go.

* * *

><p>"Come on! Lemmie out Reggie!" Quackerjack screamed from within Spike's mouth.<p>

"Not until you promise not to go after that guy!"

"Not doing it!"

Bushroot sighed. He didn't know what to do. He was at his wit's end. Quackerjack was determined to go back and cause bodily harm to George, which was something that Bushroot was unwilling to let him do. However, it was becoming very obvious to him that he couldn't convince Quackerjack not to do something rash. Bushroot hadn't realized that he had absolutely no control over Quackerjack, and indeed hadn't known that he would need to have control over him. It hadn't seemed necessary. Bushroot hadn't realized how unbalanced his friend was.

They had returned to Bushroot's greenhouse, which Liquidator had entered with some trepidation and a little bit of awe. He could feel the roots yearning for his…wateryness. He couldn't hear them, like Bushroot could, but he could kind of sense that they wanted to drink him. It was odd.

"What am I going to do with him?" Bushroot muttered. Liquidator considered the plant mutant and his flytrap. He wondered…

"Quackerjack?" Liquidator walked over to the flytrap, who seemed to be giving him an odd, thirsty look. "Do you understand why we shouldn't kill George?"

"…no."

"Quackerjack, I know you probably think this is about George, but it's not. It's about you." Liquidator said.

"What?"

"Who else kills people when he gets angry at them? Negaduck. Bad people like Negaduck. If you kill George you'd be like Negaduck. What George did was wrong, but if you killed him you'd be just as bad." Liquidator couldn't believe that he was arguing for the life of a man that had wronged him so badly, but now that he was finally thinking straight he knew that Bushroot was right.

There was a long silence from the flytrap. "Okay. I won't do anything to the bad man. Can I get out of Spike's mouth now?"

"Promise Bushroot." Liquidator said. He couldn't believe that he was talking to this weird, grown duck the same way he talked to his son.

"I promise I won't hurt the bad man. Please let me out? Spike had beef ribs last night and it smells bad!"

Bushroot nodded at Spike, who spat out Quackerjack. Quackerjack quickly slid away from the flytrap, who now looked at Liquidator with that same thirsty look. The Liquidator backed away from the trap.

"Spike, don't drink the guests." Bushroot admonished. The flytrap whined.

Quackerjack, apparently getting over the whole eaten thing, was now looking at Liquidator with an odd expression on his face. "Are you going to play with us from now on?"

Liquidator stared at him. "Huh?"

Bushroot smiled. "He wants to know if you will join us. You know, fighting crime, righting wrongs, going after Negaduck."

Liquidator looked at the two. "May I think about it?"

Bushroot smiled. "Of course."

"I'll be back." The Liquidator nodded and flowed out of the greenhouse.

* * *

><p>For hours the Liquidator merely merged with the water and flowed, using the time to think. He wanted to find his son, but he had no idea what SHUSH was, or where they were. He didn't know what to do if he found them, what it would take to rescue his son. And he couldn't do anything to hurt Negaduck, he could try, but he had a feeling he would fail. Negaduck was way too resourceful. It seemed to him that if he joined with those two then he would have a better chance of survival, and support when he found SHUSH. And, from that scene earlier it was clear to him that Bushroot had no idea how to handle that nut of a duck. Not that Liquidator knew how to handle crazy people either, but then again Quackerjack seemed more like a little kid than anything else, and if Liquidator…if Bud Flud had experience with anything it was experience with children. Quackerjack wasn't a child, but he did act like one, and the Liquidator thought that he might have the mentality of a child.<p>

He flowed back to the greenhouse and popped out of the hose that Bushroot had been running over his begonias, startling the mutant to no end.

"Do you always do that!" Bushroot jumped as Liquidator reformed.

"Sorry."

"It's alright."

The Liquidator looked around the greenhouse for the jumping bean of a duck. "Where's your friend."

Bushroot shrugged. "He went home."

"Is that wise?"

Bushroot smiled. "Quackerjack may act childish a lot, but I've found that he always keeps his word. He's not like that all the time, just a lot of the time. So, have you decided what you want to do?"

The Liquidator smiled. "From now on, your team is a team of three! Like the musketeers, we will rid this city of the filth and crime that chokes it…but I want to keep an eye out for Hank!"

"You kid, right? If we find him I'll be right beside you. Quackerjack too." Bushroot smiled, and then his face fell.

"Is something wrong?" Liquidator asked.

"I've been thinking a lot. I think that, well, even with you the team feels…wrong. It doesn't feel complete. Not yet." Bushroot said.

"What do you think will make it complete."

"Megavolt, I want Megavolt to be a part of this." Bushroot said.

"Megavolt? Why?"

Bushroot sighed and shook his head. "I don't know, just a feel I have. I don't think we will get anywhere without him."

Liquidator stared at his new teammate and smiled. "Never fear! I can sell anyone anything! I'll sell this team to Megavolt, and we'll have him! Just give me time!"

Bushroot smiled. He hoped that the Liquidator could do it. For some reason, he thought it was vital that the three of them became four. Then, and only then, would this be right.

* * *

><p>AN: There are two more chapters after this. One for the forming of the Four, and an epilogue to tie up the prologue. Expect em soon.


	6. The Friendly Four

An Author's Note: One of my reviews, TechouNoKanji, brought to my attention that my characterization of Quackerjack is off. I've been making him a bit too childlike. Hopefully that's been rectified with this chapter, by using the excuse of off screen character development. Hey, if they can use it in the comic to make the cannon Quackerjack darker and crazier then I think I can use it to adjust my mistake. Thanks a bunch, Tech, you're the kind of reviewer that every author needs, the kind that helps one improve.

Phyros is my own creation. I figured that a few normal Darkwing universe characters might have evil twins in the Negaverse, thus giving me the opportunity to make more villains for The Friendly Four. They can't be losers all the time, after all, just losers when it comes to Negaduck. The rest of the time I plan to make them reasonably competent superheroes. Negaduck is essentially Darkwing, just evil, and Darkwing always pulls through. In the Negaverse Negaduck can do the same thing. Anyway, back to Phyros. In the Darkwing version of Phyros is probably still a normal guy, and not…well you'll see.

Anyway, enjoy.

The Friendly Four

A year passed.

In that year quite a bit happened. Battles were fought. Negaduck's grip on the city began to take shape. Megavolt continued his solitary ways. The three others continued to work together. Steelbeak continued to watch, and occasionally he clashed with Negaduck. He was no more successful than the others, but the fed was a patient and careful man, and he was confident that eventually he would end up on top. However, none of these stories are important right now, because while the members of what would soon be called the Friendly Four were around, they still were not a team yet. They still needed Megavolt, but he would not be convinced.

But soon something would happen that would change Megavolt's mind.

* * *

><p>Megavolt didn't usually walk around in a disguise, mainly because he didn't feel the need to. He usually didn't walk around with normal people, if only because he was half afraid an errant spark might accidently fly off him and hit someone, and wouldn't that be a fun day? So, whenever he felt like he needed a taste of normalcy, or dinner, Megavolt would fish out some sort of disguise, usually a trench coat and hat, and just walk around. Yes he got strange looks, but it was better then being shot at by Negaduck's cronies, who seemed to have the standing order to shoot him on sight. That was a little annoying when all one wanted to do was buy a freaking hotdog.<p>

Megavolt didn't really have income, or a steady job, which made it hard for one to fill basic necessities, such as food. Fortunately, Megavolt had learned that, if one stood outside Joe's Home Improvement store and looked generally less then likely to mug someone, you might, just might, get hired by someone to do some unappealing job. Most of these jobs involved lawns, lifting heavy things, and other such activities. It was probably the last thing that his parents would have wanted for him, and if they knew they would probably have died of embarrassment. But, as a high school dropout he didn't have any choice. The only other option was that of the burger flipping variety, and that hadn't worked out for Megavolt. For one thing he'd have to fill out an application, which presented its own special set of problems for him. Elmo Sputterspark was a wanted man, even if the wantedness was from a gang of hoods.

Although to be fair, the gang of thugs that Negaduck had assembled was becoming less and less like a gang and more like a personal army dedicated to extortion, cruelty and unlawful behavior. It was becoming harder and harder for normal people to go out in the streets at night, because of the criminals roaming the streets. Even though Megavolt himself had placed many in jail, both aligned with Negaduck and crooks who were not, they usually escaped due to the fact that the police were so overworked. It was depressing. No matter what he did it seemed to change nothing.

Megavolt sighed as he counted the money he had eared this morning from helping an older lady fix the shingles on her roof. She had given him fifty dollars, enough for lunch and dinner today, and if he was frugal maybe breakfast for tomorrow. He could go to the donut shop and get a donut for a pretty cheap price. It was not the best of breakfasts, but beggars couldn't be choosers, even though Megavolt didn't beg. He hadn't yet sunk that low.

Megavolt sighed and trudged over to the nearest Hippo Burger, getting even more annoyed with his life in general. He'd been fighting for so long, and it seemed like he was fighting a losing battle. He didn't seem to be making the slightest dent in the criminal population. Worst of all, Negaduck was still out there. Megavolt slid into one of the seats lining the counter of the open air restaurant. He ordered a cheeseburger combo and began to stare moodily into space. His eyes slid over to the park across the street and nearly fell out of his chair.

It was that clown! Quackerjack! Why in the world did that guy insist on following him! Megavolt was about ten seconds away from zapping him, right here and now, when he noticed something off. Quackerjack was not even looking at him, in fact from what he saw it looked like Quackerjack was focused on the small group of people that were starting to converge around him. Megavolt studied the other hero and saw that he was juggling and bouncing around. Megavolt couldn't figure out what he was doing, till Quackerjack stopped with a flourish, and then held out a tin can to the audience. A few people dropped in coins. With a start Megavolt realized what the clown was doing. He was in the same situation that Megavolt was in, but instead of hanging around a hardware store trying to get work, the clown was going the street performer route.

Megavolt felt a stab of pity. His life was bad enough, but at least he didn't have to embarrass himself in public like that. And the last time he had talked to that clown he had acted…well childlike. Where in the world were those two so called friends of Quackerjack's? It seemed to Megavolt that they should be helping him.

Megavolt started a bit as Quackerjack lifted his eyes from his tin can. The two locked gazes and Megavolt knew, just from the wide grin that crossed Quackerjack's broad bill that he had been recognized. To Megavolt's annoyance Quackerjack leaped across the street and landed next him.

"Nice coat, Megsy." Quackerjack chuckled at him. "Who're you going to flash in that?"

Megavolt frowned. "Keep your voice down, clown. You don't know who might hear you!"

"Yeah, I'm sure there are hidden cameras everywhere." Quackerjack rolled his eyes.

Megavolt kept frowning. There was something different about Quackerjack. Yes he was still annoyingly chipper and hyperactive, and he kept fidgeting in a manner that suggested that he couldn't sit still. However, he also seemed a bit more focused, and he wasn't talking like he was five years old. That was good. It was hard enough talk to the guy when he kept acting like a reject from the elementary school. It actually made Megavolt a bit more relaxed. Part of the reason Megavolt couldn't stand being around the guy had been his childlike demeanor, but now that that was gone it was easier to talk to him. "You're different." Megavolt noted.

"But fun!" Quackerjack said cheerfully.

"No, I mean, you're acting…a little more mature then the last time I talked to you."

Quackerjack frowned a bit. "And the last time we spoke was a year ago. You don't think a person can change in a year?"

"Hmmm." Megavolt grunted. He wasn't sure how to respond to that, so he changed the subject. "Where are those two you hang out with, anyway, shouldn't they be helping you?"

"Helping me? What're you suggesting?" Quackerjack grinned. "Think I can't take care of myself?"

"No, I don't think so." Megavolt said bluntly.

"You know, for a hero you really can be an asshole." Quackerjack said. "For your information I take care of them." At Megavolt's doubtful look Quackerjack lifted Mr. Banana Brain and said. "Actually he means he buys fertilizer and stuff for Bushroot. Likky doesn't need much."

"I see the banana doll is still around."

"Hey, he has all the best ideas!" Quackerjack said.

"Riiight." Megavolt said. "I suppose that a year couldn't eliminate wackiness." He muttered.

"Hey, you have electricity, Reggie has plants, Likky has water. I have wackiness. It's my power."

"What kind of power is that?" Megavolt grumbled.

Quackerjack just laughed as the waiter came over and served Megavolt. The waiter gave Quackerjack a strange look, but took the odd duck's order anyway. Business was business after all.

Megavolt chomped into his burger, not realizing how hungry he had been until the food arrived. Quackerjack watched him with a strange expression. Megavolt tried to ignore him. Finally, after he was halfway done, Megavolt turned to look at him. "What are you doing here?"

Quackerjack grinned and shook his tin can. "I need to eat. I can't absorb sunlight like Reggie can."

"And your little buddies can't help with that?"

Quackerjack rolled his eyes. "Megavolt: Superfool. You really think that a plant duck and a liquefied dog can get a job?"

"Okay, you have a point there."

Quackerjack's silly grin returned. "Likky's been a big help. He's the one that pushed me to take care of myself…no one's ever done that before."

Megavolt studied the strange duck, and all of a sudden a familiar feeling of loneliness began to surge through him. It had been so long since he actually had a conversation with someone who knew about the whole hero thing. He had never had imagined that the realities of this hero thing would be so depressing almost nine years later. He didn't, couldn't have any friends. He was basically homeless and penniless. He hadn't seen his family in years. He spent his time putting away criminals and two days later they were generally back out on the street again. Negaduck was more powerful than ever.

"Is this whole thing even worth it?" Megavolt muttered.

"Huh?" Quackerjack gave him an odd look as his order arrived. Quackerjack munched on his food, but keep his eyes on Megavolt.

"Nothing. Never mind." Megavolt muttered and stood up, carrying his fries and drink with him. He could feel Quackerjack still watching him. He ignored the lunatic. He couldn't let up now, no matter how depressed he was becoming. He needed to stay focused.

He handled the drink like it was a live bomb. While his inner workings, such as his stomach, seemed to have been untouched by the electricity coursing through him, if liquid came in contact with his skin he would short out. However, he still needed to eat and drink. That meant that when he drank anything he had be careful, making sure he didn't get any liquid near anything other than the inside of his mouth, which seemed able to accept water. He didn't know why it worked like that, but it did.

He was just passing a gas station a few blocks away when he heard screaming and the sounds of running feet. He looked up to see people exiting the gas station, screaming and fleeing in panic. Megavolt turned his face to the gas station and saw a flash of green scales entering the station door, carrying a mess of tubes that were attached to the pumping stations.

Megavolt narrowed his eyes; there was only one villain he knew that would do something like this.

"Phyros." He muttered. He had encountered this guy before. Phyros had been an accountant before an incident with a strange stone, a stone that apparently had fallen from the sky. It had given the young iguana power over fire, but, as most of these kinds of stones had a tendency to do, it had also driven him insane. Part of it was an insatiable lust for fuel, any kind of fuel.

Megavolt gulped down the rest of his drink and tossed it into a nearby garbage can as he ran for the gas station. He peeked into the station and saw Phyros fiddling around a strange, square device, almost like a portable generator, in the middle of the floor of the station, stuck in between the beer cooler and the chips. Phyros hooked up the tubes to the machine and flicked a switch. The thing started to shake and tremble with a rumble noise.

"Hehehehe, yummy yummy yummy." Phyros hissed as he picked up a red conditioner, a container for carrying gas. Phyros was practically jumping in glee as he filled the container. He was a huge, bulky creature, with long sharp fangs and claws. Smoke seemed to constantly be smoking from his nostrils and mouth. He wore not a bit of clothing, probably because it had all burned off of him years ago, and he never bothered to replace any of it. He did wear a layer of soot over his deep green scales.

"Siphoning gas I see, Phyros?" Megavolt tossed his disguise away and glared. Phyros was always a tricky opponent for him, because of fact that electricity and fire tended to cause explosions.

Phyros whirled around, still clutching the tube, which began to leak gas. "Rat rat rat!" The villain's nose started to smoke aggressively. "Roast roast roast!" The crazed iguana inhaled and blew a fireball from his mouth directly at Megavolt.

Megavolt jumped away and rolled out of the way. He ended up near the back, near the bottled drinks. He needed to get close enough to punch that guy, as his electrical powers could cause real damage to this gas station. Still, he knew that Phyros would have no such concerns. Maybe announcing his presence had been a bad thing?

"Heey! Phyros! It's plaaaaaaaaytime!"

"Oh shit." Megavolt muttered as Quackerjack somersaulted into the station with a smile. Phyros, who had been concentrating on Megavolt, turned around and hissed at Quackerjack, his green tail switching around like a whip, scattering chocolate candies and pastries on the floor. A stream of fire emitted from Phyros' mouth, aimed at Quackerjack, who cartwheeled down the same path that Megavolt had followed and ducked in beside him.

"Hi! Having fun yet?" Quackerjack said.

"No! What are you doing?" Megavolt screeched.

"You know, you aren't the only hero in town, live with it." Quackerjack pulled out a few clacking teeth and tossed them towards Phyros. Megavolt winched as he heard Phyros blowing little fireballs at the teeth. He knew this wasn't the time to argue the point with Quackerjack. They needed to do something about this firebug! Er, firelizard.

"We have to do something before-"Megavolt said, but he was interrupted by Phyro's sudden cackling.

"Gonna light me, light me, light me!"

"Ummm, Megs. I think we have a problem here." Quackerjack said as Phyros grabbed the tube and stuck it in his mouth. "I've fought this guy with Likky before and he-"

Before Quackerjack could finish his sentence the villain grinned and chugged some gas from the tube, almost to the point where his stomach began to distend. Phyros hissed in glee and began to blow fireballs all around the store, fireballs that were more intense the last few.

Quackerjack started to pull out several deflated balloons from…somewhere and handed a few to Megavolt, who gave him a strange look.

"Likky's not here. We need water." Quackerjack grinned. "Do you like water balloons, Megs?"

Megavolt was about to scream at the nut, didn't he know about electricity and shorting out? But then he realized that Quackerjack had a point. He opened the door to the drink fridge behind them and started to pull out bottled water and energy drinks and so on. Though the whole bottled water thing had fallen on hard times due to the drought last year, a few companies still held on, though the prices had dropped. Carefully, and a little amused that his own weakness was going to be used as a weapon, Megavolt started to fill the balloons with water, but only managed to fill one by the time that Quackerjack had filled ten.

Megavolt looked over at Phyros, who lifted the tube above his head and started to pour the gasoline over his head, until Phyros was drenched in gas. He clicked his teeth, lighting a spark that spread from his nose to cover his entire body. Megavolt gulped. This was new.

"Here, he's going to charge now. Take these and peg him with em!" Quackerjack shoved half of his balloons at Megavolt, who yelped in surprise. Megavolt looked up at the fire swathed Phyros, who screeched and charged at them, going down on all fours and propelling himself towards them like an out of control train. A train that was on fire.

Megavolt and Quackerjack leaped to either side of Phyros as he ran past, each tossing water balloons. However, Phyros didn't seem to feel them at all. Megavolt narrowed his eyes as Phyros swung his head and looked at him, the iguana's mouth opened to blow fire at him. Megavolt clutched his last balloon and lobbed it into Phyros' mouth. Phyros screeched and tripped, colliding headfirst with the fridge in an explosion of glass and water. Phyros screamed as the water flowed down him, and he thrashed around, his long tail and arms breaking more bottles of cola and energy drinks, which only further drenched him. The water was enough to put the flames out.

Megavolt stared at the mixture of water and cola on the ground and grinned. He sent a small stream of electricity into the puddle. The electricity skipped and leaped over towards Phyros and connected. The lizard screeched and jumped the electricity coursing through his body. Megavolt, after years of practice, knew when to stop his electric charge so it didn't kill a person. He stopped and Phyros fell to the ground, moaning. Quackerjack laughed in glee and jumped a bit. He pulled out a hula hoop and bounced over to Phyros. He snapped the hoop over Phyros' shoulders and flicked a switch on it. The hoop tightened around Phyros, tying him up.

"Yes! Oh yes!" Quackerjack jumped back over to Megavolt with a huge grin. "See? We make a pretty good team." He grabbed Megavolt around the shoulders and hugged him.

"Yeah, okay. Get off me now." Megavolt said irritably as he shoved Quackerjack away. It was then that he noticed that the store was still burning. "We have to ge-"He started to speak, but then the device behind them exploded, and fiery debris began to rain down.

Quackerjack grabbed Megavolt by the arm. "Come on. It's gonna blow."

"Wha-" Megavolt found himself almost completely confused by all of this, and he didn't know why. His eyes widened when Quackerjack pulled out a small, clear ball and pressed a button. The ball expanded till it was big enough to hold several people.

"Fire proof. Let's go." Quackerjack jumped into the ball. Megavolt just stood there for a few seconds, staring. Quackerjack turned back to him. "Would you rather stand there and be fried?"

Megavolt shook his head and climbed into the contraption. He noticed that the ball also had a small control panel on top of a small platform, kind of like a command center. Quackerjack was pushing switches and levers. The ball began to roll to the exit and burst through the flames. The good thing about this was that the platform didn't move, or Megavolt would probably have gotten sick.

"Okay, I think we are far enough away from the station. Let me off." Megavolt said. He turned to Quackerjack, and to his disgust he saw that he other was apparently holding a conversation with his banana doll. "Quackerjack! Let me off!" Megavolt bellowed.

Quackerjack turned his head and grinned at him. Megavolt immediately didn't like it. "No." Quackerjack said.

For a brief moment Megavolt was worried Quackerjack was going to pull a knife or something. He prepared to defend himself against the creep.

"You owe me." Quackerjack grinned. "I just saved your life."

"What!" Megavolt stared.

"Now think about it Megsy, do you really think you could have defeated Phyros without me? And I got you out of there. You would have gotten singed without me!"

"Hey, I was handling it!" Megavolt shouted.

"I don't think so, Mo." Said Mr. Banana Brain. Megavolt stared at the doll as Quackerjack shook it in front of his face. Megavolt tensed, and hoped that the fact that Quackerjack was close to his real name was just a coincidence. "You owe me." Quackerjack lowered the doll and stared at Megavolt.

Megavolt sighed. "What do you want from me, clown?" He growled.

"I want you to go on a mission with the team." Quackerjack said.

"What? Why?" Megavolt asked.

"Because Reggie seems to think you should, and he's my friend. Just give us a chance."

"No." Megavolt said flatly.

"Alright, then you're not getting out of my ball." Quackerjack laughed, and Megavolt groaned at the bad innuendo.

Megavolt didn't want to team up with anyone. The last time he teamed up with someone they ended up dead. He had never really forgotten the events at the prom, and they were the main reason he never teamed up with anyone. Still…still…it couldn't really hurt, could it? After all, there would be three of them around, and it wasn't like two out of the three were normal. Okay, maybe normal wasn't the word for Quackerjack either, but he didn't have powers. And no, Megavolt didn't see wackiness as a power.

"Fine. I'll do it. But just once." Megavolt said. He tried to ignore Quackerjack's jumping around in glee. What had he gotten himself into?

* * *

><p>Quackerjack was thrilled by this. He had gotten Megavolt to join them! Yes!<p>

_ How bloody thrilling._

_ Spoilsport._

_ Brat._

_ Why are we doing this?_

_ I don't know, just drive._

Quackerjack shook his head a bit. No, the internal monologue hadn't exactly left him, though it was hard to tell sometimes if it was the high, squeaking voice of Mr. Banana Brain or the calmer, rational voice of the Headboss. Headboss didn't speak aloud like Mr. Banana Brain, but that didn't mean he wasn't there. Yes, at first Mr. Banana Brain had eclipsed Headboss, but Headboss returned a few weeks after Likky joined the team. Headboss had been partly responsible for helping Quackerjack become more independent. While Headboss was not fun, he was helpful and instructive, and helped Quackerjack when he needed to become more independent in the wake of Robert's death. Robert couldn't take care of Quackerjack anymore, and that had, with Likky's urging, forced Quackerjack to become more self sustaining. Quackerjack was pretty sure it was Headboss who spoke first. Only Headboss used the term "bloody", even though Headboss didn't have an English accent. He just seemed to like the word.

"Where are you going?" Megavolt grumped at him.

"Huh? Oh!" Quackerjack had been so busy talking to himself that he hadn't noticed where he was going. "To Bushy's! We usually hang out there in case something happens!"

"Wait, why do I have to 'hang out'? I said I'd work with you, not join your little social club!"

"And, when a robbery or a break in or whatever happens, how do we tell?" Quackerjack questioned.

"Umm, usually I just wander around town at night…isn't that how you guys do it?" Megavolt asked.

"True, very true, but I made a nice little radio thing a few months back. It monitors the police channels." Quackerjack grinned.

"…you built something?" Megavolt asked.

"Hey, where do you think all my toys come from?"

"Madmens r' us?" Megavolt said.

"Now that is the worst sentence I have ever heard grammatically. No, I build all my toys. I'm pretty good at electronics and robotics." Quackerjack grinned. "I'm a toymaker, after all. Plus, I whittle!"

"Huh. I see." Megavolt said. "So why do I need to come with you?"

"So when we get a call on the radio, you can come with. Plus, I said I wanted you to try being a part of the team for once, and you can't be part of a team by avoiding your teammates!"

Megavolt frowned, a sour, bitter look that Quackerjack couldn't fathom. Why did the rat's face wrinkle like he just bit a lemon all the time? Quackerjack decided to ignore that and drove his way to Bushroot's greenhouse. While the greenhouse wasn't exactly hidden, it was probably more secure then even Quackerjack's own hideout. The grass and trees around the place were always on top alert, and watching for anyone that was not Quackerjack or the Liquidator, whom the grasses simply loved.

Megavolt shot Quackerjack unhappy glares all the way till they reached Bushroot's greenhouse. Before he let Megavolt out Quackerjack turned to the rat and grinned. "Remember, once you leave this ball you're a part of the team!"

"I get it! For pity's sake you're worse than the cheerleaders at my old school! All you need are pom poms!" Megavolt snarled.

"Aww, don't be like that, come on, let's shake on our deal." He knew he shouldn't do this as he palmed the joy buzzer, but he just couldn't help it. Megavolt stared at him, and Quackerjack gave him his most innocent grin. Megavolt sighed and took his hand, and was immediately zapped.

Quackerjack roared in laughter, but his mirth ended when he himself was zapped by a light charge from Megavolt, who was shaking his head. "Idiot, when it comes to zapping, I always win."

"Is that a smile I see?" Quackerjack laughed, for indeed there was a small smile on Megavolt's face.

"No, you're hallucinating." Megavolt turned around, but Quackerjack could see the small smile he wore reflecting the ball's wall. Quackerjack, despite the fact that he had always found Megavolt very frustrating, due the constant put downs and insults, couldn't help but hope this worked. He didn't know why, but for some reason he felt like he and Megavolt could click, if the other just stopped acting this way. He pushed a button and the ball's door slid open. Megavolt exited the ball with what Quackerjack thought of as a far too exaggerated sigh of relief. What a drama queen!

Quackerjack exited the ball and pushed another button on the side of it, which shrunk the thing back to portable size. Quackerjack put his toy away and led Megavolt towards the greenhouse. The fact that Megavolt was trudging behind him like a prisoner didn't make Quackerjack any less thrilled.

Quackerjack opened the door to the greenhouse and was greeted by the slobbering howl of a flytrap, who bounded over with its tongue hanging out.

"Hey Spike! Who's a good boy!" Quackerjack smiled at Spike, who panted and danced on his roots. Quackerjack reached into his costume and pulled out a sack with some fertilizer. "I got your favorite!" Quackerjack pulled out some of the fertilizer and tossed it at Spike, who easily caught it.

"I see you made friends with it." Megavolt said.

"Better to be Spike's friend then his lunch." Quackerjack grinned. "He's really nice once you get to know him. Slobbery though."

"Quackerjack? How'd it go?" Bushroot came walking in from another room, a water bucket in his hand. "Hey, what are you doing here, Megavolt?"

"You're charity case here roped me into coming." Megavolt said.

"I'm not a charity case! I pull my own weight! I'll show you! Here, Reggie, got you that fertilizer you wanted!" Quackerjack pulled out another bag, a bigger one, and walked over to Bushroot, who took it with a smile. "And I got Likky's chlorine as well." Quackerjack pulled out a small tub of chlorine.

"Why does the Liquidator need chlorine?" Megavolt asked.

"In order to keep ones water clean and bacteria free, one needs an occasional sprinkling of good old fashioned chlorine! Courtesy of our friendly Quackerjack!" The voice came from the water bucket that Bushroot was holding, and the Liquidator poured out with a smile. "Nice to see that you've finally decided to join us, Megavolt!"

"It's not permanent, I'm just here to repay Quackerjack, then I am gone." Megavolt said moodily.

"Repay?" Bushroot looked at Quakerjack inquisitively

"I saved his life!" Quackerjack declared.

"Oh, not going to mention the kidnapping thing?" Megavolt grumbled.

"So you wanted to stay in the exploding gas station with Phyros?" Quackerjack asked.

"I didn't say that." Megavolt said.

"Phyros?" Liquidator asked. "That crazy lizard?"

"Yeah, I saved Megsy here, and he's going to join the team, at least for one mission." Quackerjack said proudly. Megavolt sighed. No one really paid that much attention to him.

"Well, I'm glad you've decided to at least try to work with us, Megavolt." Bushroot smiled at Megavolt, who nodded reluctantly, but didn't object any more. He seemed to have resigned himself to working with them for a while.

"So…what do you guys do when you're not fighting crime?" Megavolt asked.

Bushroot was about to answer when the radio that Quackerjack built let out a beep. A voice came over the thing, the voice of a cop.

"Report Negaduck sighting at the West St. Canard Bank. Advise all units to steer clear. Standby ambulances for casualties."

Liquidator shook his head. "You know things are bad in this town when the cops are told to steer clear of the villains."

"Well, I'm not steering clear!" Megavolt's eyes had narrowed in hate at the mention of his lifelong enemy. He glanced at the others and said. "And I guess you guys won't either. Come on then, let's go." With that he turned towards the exit and strode out, as if expected the other three to automatically follow his lead. Which they all did.

It was odd, how it happened. Neither Bushroot nor the Liquidator or even Quackerjack objected to the fact that Megavolt seemed under the impression that he was in charge. They just followed him, as if it had been a bygone conclusion, as if it were natural. And in a way it was. Some people are just automatically followed, even if they don't ask to be a leader.

It's funny how that happens.

* * *

><p>Bushroot had a very bad feeling about this. Not about Megavolt joining them, not at all. No, that had felt right. Intrinsically and essentially right, as if they belonged together. It was funny, how much he trusted that feeling. He never trusted instinctive feelings before, as he was more of a scientific mind when he was duck. However, a lot of that had changed when he became part plant. Bushroot was discovering that plants, at their core, were very much feeling beings. Their feelings were slow and ponderous, especially when it came to the older trees, but they were often very deep feelers as well. In many ways they made the feeling and emotions of animals seem extremely and unnecessarily fast and hurried, like fireworks when compared to a fireplace. This had caused an odd duality in his head. At times Bushroot felt more ducklike, more animal, then plant, and he hurried accordingly. It was in those times that he actually did scientific research and projects and crime fighting. However, there were times when the plants told him that he needed to slow down, and he would spend hours just kind of sitting in the sun, feeling things. It was odd, but nice. However he couldn't do it often, as Negaduck was out there, and his team needed him to be more animalike then plantlike. Still, much of the plant's feeling nature was there, and those feelings told him that this team was <em>right<em>. Not right as in morally right, but right in the same way the sun rising was right. And Megavolt being a part of that team was even more right.

Bushroot had hitched a ride with the Liquidator, who was waving his way through the sewer system. His roots were literally planted in the Liquidator's body, as this was the fastest way to transport them both. Plus, it helped make him stronger, somehow. It was the water. It strengthened him.

"We're here, Reggie." The Liquidator announced as he surged upwards towards the manhole.

"Right." Bushroot readied himself. _ You guys ready?_

_ Every day, little brother. You're pets will come to no harm._

_ You know, they're not really pets._

_ What else can an animal be? There only purpose it to pollinate and to nurture us._

Bushroot mentally shook his head. The plants really didn't get it. But then again, neither did the animals…and there he was, calling people animals. But, in a way they were. Or not. It was confusing sometimes.

He had to shove those thoughts away! It was time to fight! Time to protect his friends! He could sense Quackerjack and Megavolt on the surface. Megavolt had followed Quackerjack by using his skating on the telephone lines skill. Quackerjack had pogoed.

There were several huge armored vans parked in front of the bank. Everyone knew that, occasionally, Negaduck would run out of funds, or felt that he needed more. He was never truly satisfied with what he had, so every month or so he would rob a bank. At first the police had tried to stop him, but casualty after causality had convinced all by the most determined of cops to stay away from him. No one messed with him, and anyone unlucky enough to be in the bank the day that Negaduck came…well if they stayed very silent and were very cooperative they might get out alive. Many didn't. Still, there were always several gang members brought along as escorts. Four of these gang members had lined at the entrance of the bank, guarding it and their boss.

Bushroot emerged from the manhole, propelled by the Liquidator, as Quackerjack and Megavolt lunged in almost perfect tandem at the guards. Quackerjack pulled out a bouncy paddle ball and struck a guard on the head with it. The ball burst on impact and released sleeping powder, to which the hood succumbed to at once. Megavolt pulled out his zap gun and zapped another hood, who was charging at them. The gun, however, stopped the man in his tracks, and the shock lifted him from the ground, his hair standing on end. The remaining two hoods ran straight for the Liquidator and Bushroot.

Bushroot smiled and extended his vines, wrapping the pair's legs up. He lifted them into the air and slung them around in the air. The Liquidator smiled and blasted them with enough water to shoot them to the other end of the street. As the two arched through the air Bushroot let them go at the top of their journey. The end result was that the two hoods slammed into the side of the building across the street.

Megavolt nodded appreciatively "You two are a pretty good team." He said.

Bushroot smiled "You and Quacky aren't bad either. Just need some practice!"

Megavolt frowned, but didn't contradict him. He was too focused on the thought of fighting Negaduck once again. He turned and led the other three into the building, his zap gun armed and ready. Bushroot followed Megavolt, Liquidator on his left side, Quackerjack a little in front and to the right of Bushroot. In fact Quackerjack was almost stepping on Megavolt's heels. Megavolt's face was fixed and determined as he kicked in the bank's glass double doors and leaped in.

"Negaduck!" Megavolt bellowed. "Freeze!"

Negaduck, who had been gloating as he watched his men carry the bags of money, turned around with a harsh glare. "Four of you now? How pathetic Megavolt! I always thought you were a lone loser!"

"Everyone needs friends." Megavolt said, almost with no emotion in his voice. It was odd, those warm words in that cold, unemotional tone. However, a hard edge emerged with his next words. "You might not be such a monster if you realized that."

"And I told you that I'd take everything from you, including your friends. Thanks for painting a target on their backs, Megadolt!" Negaduck laughed at Megavolt's cold stare. "I'll have to move them up on the priority list! Who wants to go first? The mad clown?" Negaduck grinned at Quackerjack. "I can arrange for you visit your family, permanently." Quackerjack tensed, his big buck teeth bared in an aggressive snarl. "Or I could boil that mutt. Have you ever been boiled, Likky?" Liquidator showed no emotion. He was calm, almost eerily so. "Or maybe you first, Bushy? I need some mulch for my garden!" Bushroot clenched his fists and stared Negaduck in the eyes, determined to show no fear. Not in front of his friends. Negaduck turned back to Megavolt. "Well, Rat? Who first?"

"Me!" Megavolt snarled and leaped, his hand aimed at Negaduck. A bolt of electricity arched towards Negaduck, who dodged out of the way. As Negaduck leaped to the left, his right hand man Launchpad charged at Megavolt.

"Get Negaduck, Megs!" Quackerjack bellowed as he charged forwards, apparently pulling a gun at Launchpad. Megavolt, instinctively trusting the mad duck, though he didn't know why, turned to follow Negaduck to the left, while Quackerjack fired his gun. To no one's surprise the gun didn't fire a bullet, but a gloved fist which smacked Launchpad on the head, driving him backwards.

Liquidator swept to the left, beyond Negaduck and Megavolt, who were exchanging bullet and lightning bolts. The water dog swept up the hoods that were even now converging on the two battling arch rivals, determined to help their boss. However, Liquidator was not about to let them do this, and crashed into them with the force of a tidal wave.

Bushroot, on the other hand, went to the right, where a group of bankers and civilians were huddled on the ground, trembling in fear and terror. He was glad there were some nice potted plants flanking the door, eager to help. With a little encouragement the plants sprang to full growth and sped for the civilians, most of whom screamed in horror. Bushroot ignored them, he was used to that. He let the foliage wrap themselves around the quaking people and began to plop them outside the bank's windows, saving as many of them as he could.

"I won't let you take anyone else from me! I'll die myself before that happens!" Megavolt screeched. Bushroot could hear the pain in the rat's voice, and all of a sudden it was all too clear to him why Megavolt shunned the company of others. Negaduck's laughter filled the bank, chilling Bushroot to…well to the roots.

"I always planned on killing you, all of you, but now I know the order! You were going to be first, Megadolt, but now you're going to be last. I'll torture and kill each and every one of them, and I'll make sure you get to watch!" Negaduck grinned. "I think I've decided. I'll start with the clown. I hate clowns, you see, and I might as well finish the last of his worthless, brain-dead, lowlife, scum of a family!"

"Don't you dare talk about Robert and Father that way!" Quackerjack turned his head to snap at Negaduck and Launchpad took the opportunity that Quackerjack gave him and grabbed him by the arm. The thug gave a sharp twist, and even Bushroot could hear the sound of Quackerjack's arm snapping. Quackerjack screamed, and kicked Launchpad in the head; in the same place his trick gun had beaned the fool. This, apparently, did the trick, and Launchpad fell to the ground. Quackerjack wiggled out of thug's grasp and backed away, gasping in pain.

Liquidator bellowed in rage and went for Quackerjack, trying to come to his friend's aid. Unfortunately he didn't understand Megavolt's power, and he flowed past Megavolt, touching him along the way. The Liquidator barely felt the energy that flowed from Megavolt through him as the rat began to short out. Liquidator grabbed Quackerjack by the shoulders, intending to lift him to his feet, but to his shock Quackerjack screamed in pain once again as the electricity that was flowing in the Liquidator ripped through his body.

The Liquidator, seeing what had happened, but not sure why, dissipated quickly, moving his water away from both Megavolt and Quackerjack. He pooled himself and reformed between the two. Megavolt, who had never been shorted out like that in a long while, panted on the ground, his eyes closed as the weakness that characterized his shorting out overtook him. Quackerjack wasn't in any better shape. He had been driven to his knees, clutching his arm and gently moaning in pain. Some of his feathers were smoking, and Bushroot could smell them smothering.

Before the Liquidator could do anything more Negaduck pulled out a strange gun, almost like a gas gun, and fired. Liquidator turned just in time to find himself covered in something like freezer paper, a sticky covering that wrapped him up like leftovers. He strained and pulled against it, but he found that he couldn't do anything to free himself, no matter how much he struggled.

Negaduck chuckled and pulled out his chainsaw as he walked towards Quackerjack and Megavolt; both of whom seemed unable to move. Negaduck laughed and revved the chainsaw. Almost playfully he slashed at Megavolt's leg, who screamed as the teeth cut into his flesh.

Negaduck smiled at Megavolt. "Hehehe, it's time, Megadolt. Just like last time, you get to watch your friend's die!" He lifted the chainsaw and aimed it at Quackerjack's head, attempting to split the helpless toymaker in half. "How does it feel, boys? Megavolt has doomed you all! You see, I'm a man of my word, even if the promises I make are years coming! Anyone who dares befriend Megavolt is a dead man! You're first, clown! Say hello to Daddy for me! Say hello to him in hell!"

However, in his glee he had forgotten Bushroot, who just had gotten the last citizen out of the bank. Bushroot lunged at Negaduck and collided with him, a full bodied tackle that drove the crazed duck away from his friend. His vines wrapped around Negaduck's waist as the two tumbled away from the other two.

"GET off me you root!" Negaduck slashed with chainsaw, cutting into Bushroot's vines. It hurt, but not enough to drive Bushroot back. He kept up his assault, even as his vines fell to the ground. With a heave Negaduck pushed Bushroot off. Vineless, but angry, Bushroot stood between his three friends and Negaduck with an angry look on his face.

Bushroot stared at Negaduck "You really think your threats scare us? All your posturing and bragging? You really think that is impressive? You might hurt us, but you can't terrorize us!"

"Scare you? I don't' scare you? I'm the one with the chainsaw, knob!" Negaduck snarled.

"You're nothing but a bratty little child that got a hold of a little power! You're pathetic! You're nothing!" Bushroot shouted. Negaduck's eyes widened in shock and fury. "You have no power over us! You have no power over anyone! You can't control my friends through fear! You're nobody!"

"I'll show you who's nothing! I'll show you who's nobody!" Negaduck swung his chainsaw at Bushroot, who dodged from one side to the other as the maddened crime lord assaulted him. The sap pouring from his arms pooled on the ground, and slowed him. Negaduck gave a mighty shout and a thrust with his chainsaw. Bushroot gasped as it entering his gut and sliced into his leaves and stem. A sharp jerk upwards and Negaduck had eviscerated Bushroot from the middle of his body to the top of his head.

His mind began to fade as his body failed. He had failed. His friends…his dear friends. Poor Quackerjack. The Liquidator. And Megavolt. Megavolt would blame himself! No…no…

_Fear not, little brother._

_I've failed._

_From the smallest of seeds, from the tiniest of roots, the Green can regrow. We are eternal. We are forever._

_What?_

_You will see._

And Bushroot was gone.

* * *

><p>The Liquidator watched as Negaduck sliced into Bushroot, reducing the poor plant mutant to a small pile of green mess on the ground. The mad duck's laugh echoed in the Liquidator's mind, and he was filled with unfathomable rage. He struggled even harder against his prison, but still he could do nothing against it.<p>

At first he didn't notice what Quackerjack was doing, but then he saw his friend painfully pulling his broken arm around his back. In his hand, perched precariously, was a set of clacking teeth. Quackerjack twisted the key on the teeth and set it on the ground. The teeth clacked happily over to the Liquidator and began to chew on his prison.

Concentrated all of his self on the spot where the teeth were chewing, the Liquidator pressed in.

Negaduck finished and walked back over to Megavolt and Quackerjack. Megavolt's eyes were still closed, but now the Liquidator thought it was because the poor rat was now living his worst nightmare. He hadn't missed the shouted comments that Negaduck and Megavolt had traded, and he knew now that there was some sort of history there.

"Now, for your clown friend. I'm going to enjoy this."

"You…murdered…my family. You murdered my friends." Quackerjack lifted his head and screamed. "Do you really think I will forgive you?" Quackerjack lunged at Negaduck, for the first time not using his toys, just his body. Negaduck, who had been half expecting this from the last time Quackerjack went nuts in front of him, dropped the chainsaw and delivered an uppercut to Quackerjack's bill as he lunged. As Quackerjack's head traveled upwards Negaduck brought his other fist down on Quackerjack's head, slamming it into the ground, stunning his opponent.

Finally the prison broke, and the Liquidator launched himself out. He streamed towards Negaduck and splashed into his chest, sending Negaduck backwards. Negaduck bellowed in rage.

"Quackerjack! Run! Get Megavolt and go!" The Liquidator shouted.

Quackerjack pulled out his getaway ball and expanded it. Gently he lifted Megavolt from the ground and tossed him in. He got into the ball and pushed a button. The Liquidator knew that button. It was the one that sent the ball automatically back to Quackerjack's hideout. The Liquidator turned to Negaduck. It was his job to keep the villain occupied. The Liquidator was aware of the ball rolling away, but Negaduck was not so aware. He was too busy being angry.

"You will pay for that." Negaduck snarled.

"I will pay? I? It is not the Liquidator who is piling up all this bad credit at the Karma Bank, Negaduck." The Liquidator said.

"Karma? What new age bullshit is that?"

The Liquidator smiled. "One day, Negaduck, you will meet someone with the brains or the luck or the skill to match you. Perhaps this noble creditor of fate shall not be us, but you will meet him someday. I can almost guarantee that!"

Negaduck pulled out that strange gun and fired, but this time the Liquidator was ready for him. He easily flowed away, teasing Negaduck by laughing and bragging as he fled. He led the villain around the bank in intricate, crazy patterns, all the while aware that if that thing hit him again, he was lost. He would no doubt be at Negaduck's mercy, which was pretty much a nonentity.

After five minutes of this he figured that Quackerjack would be back at his hideout, and he wouldn't have to worry about pursuers. The Liquidator aimed for the nearest bathroom and landed in a toilet, Negaduck hot on his heels. The Liquidator lashed out with a tentacle of water and flushed himself. He grinned a bit at Negaduck's scream of rage.

They hadn't won.

But they had survived.

* * *

><p>AN: Shorter than the others, I know, but I hope the fact that you got two action scenes out of it helps. I think I'm getting better at them.


	7. Epilogue

Epilogue

Megavolt hung his head and sighed. He closed his black diary and put it away "That's it. I'm leaving." He got up to leave, and then turned to stare at the others. "I suggest that the pair of you get out town while you can."

"What?" Quackerjack looked up. "Why would we do a thing like that?"

"Didn't you hear Negaduck! He'll be after the pair of you next!"

Quackerjack glared at Megavolt. "What? I'm supposed to run away from him?"

"You will if you want to live!"

"He killed my father and my brother!" Quackerjack shouted as his unbroken arm going up to the corresponding end of his jester hat and tugging hard. "Do you expect me to just forget that?"

"And do you expect me to forget about my son?" Liquidator stood up and snarled at Megavolt. "When did you become so terrorized by Negaduck? You really expect us to give in to him?"

"What are you talking about?" Megavolt hissed.

"If we let Negaduck intimidate us like that then he's already won!" Liquidator said. "I won't let him and neither should you!"

"Fine!" Megavolt threw up his hands. "Get yourselves killed!" He turned away again.

"You coward." Quackerjack sneered.

Megavolt shook with rage. He turned and aimed a bolt at Quackerjack, who dodged and charged. Quackerjack leaped and planted both feet on Megavolt's shoulders, driving him to the ground. Megavolt was ten seconds away from shocking the clown but Quackerjack grabbed him by the collar of his jumpsuit and slammed his head into the ground. It was not a hard blow, but it did startle Megavolt greatly.

"You elitist jerk! Do you really think that just because I don't have powers that I'm useless! You think that you're the only one allowed to seek justice! You're so full of yourself that it's sickening!" Quackerjack's eyes were bugging out in anger.

"I don't want anyone else to die because of me!" Megavolt shouted back.

"Stop it! The both of you! This isn't helping!" The Liquidator plucked Quackerjack from Megavolt and set him on the ground. "Megavolt…" The Liquidator stared down at the confused and scared looking rat "I understand that you don't want to have the lives of others on your conscious, but Quackerjack and I both have reasons to fight Negaduck as well. So did Bushroot."

"And now Bushroot is dead, and it's my entire fault!" Megavolt was dangerously close to crying now.

"No." Quackerjack sighed gently. "You can't blame yourself for what others do. It's Negaduck's fault, not yours."

"But…"

"Bushroot sacrificed himself for all of us!" The Liquidator said. "And that was his choice, not yours. You didn't force him to do it, he did it because he was Bushroot, and he wouldn't ever let a friend get hurt if he could help it!"

Megavolt hung his head. "Does it matter? None of us have can beat Negaduck! I've been fighting him since high school and he always wins!"

"Megavolt, you've spent all this time alone, has it never occurred to you that's why you haven't beaten Negaduck yet?" Quackerjack said quietly. "Before I met Liquidator and Bushroot…well you knew what I was like. It's only because of them that I've done this well."

"You're insane." Megavolt stated.

"You don't think I know that!" Quackerjack jumped up and down in frustration. "Ever since my father died…maybe even before that I've been…this way. But before I couldn't even admit that my family was gone. I kept acting like they had…vanished or something. But Likky…" His eyes shifted to his friend.

The Liquidator put a hand on Quackerjack shoulder. "No, it's alright; you don't have to rehash that now." He focused his attention on Megavolt. "Megavolt, you can't let Negaduck control your life like this. You've been his foe all this time, but you've been letting him dictate how you live your life. You can't let him rule you by fear. We can help you, Megavolt. Let us help you."

Megavolt stared up at the two, and that lonely feeling resurfaced. He remembered Hamm, and how his old friend had died. To his horror he realized that the Liquidator was right. All this time he had let what Negaduck had done to his friends control him, letting his fear of the crime lord rule him. But now he could stop that. Right now.

Megavolt got up and looked at the other two, especially at Quackerjack. "I…I'm sorry. You're right. You're both right." He looked down at his feet. "If you'll still have me, I'd like to join you."

The Liquidator smiled. "Of course my friend. You were always one of us!"

Quackerjack nodded, and then frowned. "I wish Reggie was here to see this."

As soon as he said this a loud scuffling was heard, and the pitter patter of feet rushed towards them. The three tensed, ready for Negaduck or whatever else was going to attack them. Something green and slobbery hurled itself at Quackerjack, who fell with a grunt…then a giggle.

"Spike! Buddy!" Quackerjack hugged the loyal trap around the stem. Quackerjack started to sniffle. "Oh Spike! Bushy's gone!"

"Gone? You should know me better then that Quacky!"

"Huh!" Quackerjack pulled back from Spike, who opened his mouth to reveal a small cabbage. "A cabbage?"

The cabbage turned a bit to reveal a beak. "Hi guys, it turns out I can regrow myself! Nice, huh?" The beaked cabbage said in Bushroot's voice.

"BUSHY!" Quackerjack snatched the cabbage out of Spike's mouth and danced with it. "You're alive! Oh I'm so happy!" To illustrate said happiness the clown began to do back flips, all while holding the cabbage-Bushroot.

"Whoa! I'm getting dizzy here!" Bushroot laughed at his friend, who managed to contain himself.

Megavolt smiled. "Anything we can get you, Bushroot?"

The beak nestled in the cabbage leaves smiled. "Oh, just a nice place in the sunlight and I'll be back on my roots in no time…and maybe some water…fertilizer…soft music would be nice…"

* * *

><p>The dawn brought Quackerjack, The Liquidator and Megavolt climbing out of one of the cave entrances that connected to Quackerjack's hideout. Quackerjack was holding Bushroot, and as soon as he emerged from the cave Quackerjack began to look for a place to put his slightly cabbagy friend. Spike followed Quackerjack, panting slightly.<p>

"This looks like a nice place to plant you, Reggie." Quackerjack said. "We can leave Spike here to make sure no one bothers you." Spike nodded eagerly and squatted down next to Bushroot, tongue out and dripping.

"Thanks a bunch!" Bushroot said cheerily.

"Look at that sunrise guys…" The Liquidator said in awe as he faced the east. "Beautiful, isn't it?"

Quackerjack and Bushroot both made affirmative noises, but Megavolt was frowning.

"Something wrong, Megs?" Quackerjack asked, noting his new friend's grim look.

"It's red." Megavolt said. "I remember growing up near a wharf. Part wharf rat, you see."

"What does that have to do with the sunrise?" Bushroot asked.

"Oh, just something sailors used to say. 'Red sky at morning, sailors take warning." Megavolt said.

"'Red sky at night, sailor's delight.'" Quackerjack finished the old bit of weather lore with a shrug "Good thing we aren't sailors, then!" He turned back to his cave with a flippant wave of his uninjured arm. "I have some fertilizer into the back for you, Bushy. I'll go get it!"

"I'll come too." The Liquidator gave Megavolt a strange look, and followed Quackerjack into the cave.

For a long moment Bushroot and Megavolt simply stood there, staring at the sky. Finally, Bushroot spoke. "It's just an old superstition."

"No, it's not. There would always be a storm when the sky was like that. Bad time for sailing." Megavolt said.

"Still, I wouldn't worry about it."

"Maybe not." Megavolt said.

_Still, there is a storm coming_. He thought. _And I think it will be a bad one…_

* * *

><p>The Negaverse is a dark place. Bad things happen there. Crime lords can rule the streets, and heroes sometimes can't win no matter how much they try. Chaos is the way of the Negaverse, and before it would get any better it would get much worse.<p>

Three years later, the Negaverse would finally find hope, but those three years leading up to it would be the worst yet.

Deep within the earth something slept. Somewhere deep inside the earth, something stirred.

And it was hungry.

* * *

><p>AN: This concludes my shortest completed story. Not bad at all.

As you can tell, from the ending, there is going to be more, but the sequel is going to be different. It's going to be modeled after a different fanfic on this site by an author named Scyphi called The New Adventures of Darkwing Duck, which I highly recommend to everyone. It's kind of written in an episodic format, with each chapter being an episode. Consider this a kind of fanfic version of an issue 0, or a pilot for a tv show. Of course, mine is going to be set in the Negaverse, chronicling the adventures of the Friendly Four up until Darkwing actually arrives. Still, consider this my official admission that I am by no means original, and I freely admit that I came up with the idea for this after reading The New Adventures for three straights weeks and getting inspired by them. Sometimes that happens. In fact, if you haven't already, go read The New Adventures. Now.

And yeah, the sequel with definitely have my usual patterns of fanfic behavior, such as filling in the blanks that the show leaves me, a habit of mine that frustrates a lot of my readers (go check out my Naruto fic Wolf in the Sand and my Harry Potter/Yugioh crossover, both of which are my worst offenders of this if you want an example.). It will probably also end up with a slew of OCs. Though I don't think I've yet to create a Mary Sue yet, though a few of my OCs may dance dangerously close to this. But, on the other hand, you will get to see me play Develop The Other Guy's characters as well. I might even end up making a few Negaduck centered 'episodes'.

Anyway, I've rambled enough. Hope to see you next time, and thanks for reading.


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